Nationals' James Wood hits MLB's first inside-the-park grand slam since 2022

WASHINGTON — As soon as one of the best young hitters in baseball made contact off one of the best young pitchers in baseball, Nationals third base coach Victor Estévez started to wave his arm around in circles.He did not stop until four batters had crossed the third-base bag. It took James Wood all of 15.1 seconds to round the bases for the first inside-the-park grand slam in MLB since Raimel Tapia hit one in July 2022. JAMES WOOD. LITTLE LEAGUE. GRAND SLAM. 🤯😭 pic.twitter.com/UDooLAdTfy — Washington Nationals (@Nationals) May 20, 2026With two outs in the second inning on Tuesday, Wood hit Nolan McLean’s first-pitch sweeper that caught just too much plate. The ball that carried the opposite way, as it so often does off of his bat. Wood began a jog, likely thinking it was a homer, before going into a full sprint as Estévez windmilled his arms at third.Advertisement