Abrams tallies first career walk off against hometown team

WASHINGTON -- CJ Abrams grew up watching the Braves as a baseball standout in suburban Atlanta.

On Wednesday night, the rookie shortstop played spoiler against his hometown team with a 10th-inning walk-off single -- the first walk-off hit of his career -- in Washington’s 3-2 victory at Nationals Park.

“Just playing the Braves in general is a dream come true,” Abrams, 21, said. “Then to be able to walk off against them, I know my dad’s over there happy.”

Looking to avoid the series sweep, the Nationals began the bottom of the 10th with Alex Call as the automatic runner on second base. Victor Robles was called out on a sacrifice bunt, César Hernández drew a walk and Lane Thomas grounded out to third.

That brought up Abrams to face Braves right-hander Jackson Stephens with two outs. He was surprised to see three fastballs in a row, and he fouled off two pitches to land in a 1-2 count. Trying to avoid chasing up high, Abrams jumped on a low changeup to slice a sharp grounder into right field and drive in Call for the winning run.

“Barreled it,” Abrams said. “Two strikes, I’m kind of ‘see it, hit it,’ try to simplify for sure.”

Abrams finished his notable night at the plate 3-for-5, tallying his 11th multihit game of the season.

Over his past seven contests, he is batting .370 with 10 hits and five runs scored. Manager Dave Martinez noted Abrams is getting ready early and trying to stay on top of the ball in his second month with the Nats since being acquired from the Padres on Aug. 2.

“He’s been having good at-bats,” said Martinez. “He’s trying to stay up the middle. He didn’t try to do too much right there. He put the ball in play and got a big hit for us.”

Abrams’ 10th-inning heroics came two frames after a costly baserunning misstep. Tied 2-2 in the eighth, the speedy rookie did not run out a ground ball to reliever A.J. Minter, whose throw pulled Matt Olson off first base. The original safe call was overturned following a challenge by the Braves, and Abrams had a conversation with Martinez when he returned to the dugout.

“That can’t happen,” said Abrams. “I talked to Davey about it. It won’t happen again, for sure.”

Wednesday marked the second time in four games that Abrams bounced back in-game. On Sunday at loanDepot park in Miami, Abrams was called out after a slide at the plate in the second inning. Two innings later, he doubled and stole home on a double steal.

“It was good for him, especially after the baserunning thing [in the eighth],” said Martinez. “He comes back, he puts it aside and he gets after that at-bat and gets a big base hit for us. It’s good to see that. He stayed in the game, stayed poised.”

Only three years removed from being named the 2019 Georgia Gatorade Baseball Player of the Year, Abrams had another Gatorade celebration on Wednesday when he was splashed multiple times by his jubilant teammates.

“It was freezing,” Abrams said. “It was really cold, and I got like three, four of them. But it was fun, though.”