Cade Cavalli Hits 200 Ks After Extension

Washington Nationals right-hander Cade Cavalli locked in a four-year extension earlier Friday, then walked off Busch Stadium with the 200th strikeout of his first full major league season in a 9-1 win over the St. Louis Cardinals. Field Level Media reported five scoreless innings, four hits, and six punchouts on 73 pitches, with strikeout No. 200 a changeup that froze JJ Wetherholt looking to end the fifth.

The deal runs through 2030 with a 2031 club option. It guarantees $47 million and can climb to $70 million if Washington exercises the option, per ESPN and Reuters. Cavalli improved to 13-5 and carried a 1.90 ERA across 12 second-half starts into the night. He is the first Nationals pitcher to reach 200 strikeouts in a season since Patrick Corbin, Max Scherzer, and Stephen Strasburg all did it in the 2019 World Series year.

Same-day paycheck, same-night highlight

Manager Blake Butera pulled Cavalli once the lead was fat enough. Dylan Crews smashed a two-run homer in a four-run third, Yohandy Morales added a two-run double, and CJ Abrams reached the 30-homer, 30-steal club in the first, the first Nat to do so since Alfonso Soriano in 2006. Kyle Leahy took the loss after seven runs (six earned) in three innings.

Brad Lord followed with two scoreless frames. Jack Sinclair allowed the Cardinals' only run in the eighth, and Josiah Gray closed a one-hit ninth. Washington has won five of six and sits 72-82 while St. Louis is 75-79.

For a club outside the October race, locking the ace and watching him punch the 200th K on the same calendar day is still a franchise win. Cavalli's second-half ERA and the guaranteed dollars say Washington wants him on the mound for the rebuild's next chapter, not on the winter trade board.

Ace board into the finish

Extension day usually ends with a press release. Cavalli answered with a fist pump on strikeout 200 and a rout on the road. That is the Nationals' pitching story overnight, and it is the kind of named-lead win Smacktok fans can ride without inventing October stakes for a club still outside the race.

New deal. Two hundred Ks. Nine-to-one in St. Louis. Cavalli's night was the whole board.