The Nationals set a team record on July 28, 2026, by drawing six base-on-balls in a single inning. The walks came in the bottom of the first off former Cy Young Award-winner Shane Bieber, who was lifted with two outs after his last pass put the Nats up 4-0.
The six walks issued also set a Blue Jays’ first-inning team record, short of the first-inning MLB record of seven. Those were issued by Hall of Famer Bob Feller in 1952.
“Sometimes it doesn’t take a big hit,” Nats’ right-fielder Dylan Crews said. He drew one of free passes off Bieber. The right-hander yielded just an infield single to CJ Abrams, other than the walks. Three of the walks came with the bases loaded.
Bieber opened the game by walking James Wood, who leads the league in free passes. Louis Garcia grounded slowly to second for the first out before Crews walked. Abrams beat out a slow roller to load the bases. After the safe call was unsuccessfully challenged, Keibert Ruiz walked to force in the first run. Next, Daylen Lile drew the fourth walk for a second run.
Nasim Nunez then hit one deep enough to right field for a sacrifice fly to make it 3-0. Bieber walked Jorbit Vivas to re-load the bases. When ninth batter Jacob Young walked to bring in the fourth run, Bieber’s night was over. Reliever Brandon Little got Wood to ground out to end the inning.
“They were really patient and waited for a really good pitch to hit, and they weren’t trying to do too much – especially when we got bases loaded,” manager Blake Butera told the media.
“You could kind of tell that (Bieber) was having a hard time in the zone a little bit,” said Crews, who later homered off a reliever.
The Nats got two more walks and two homers as they held on to beat Jays, 8-6, in Washington The victory left Washington at the time a game behind the Arizona Diamondbacks for the third wild card spot in the N.L. at 55-53.
The Nationals had drawn five free passes in an inning three times previously. MLB’s Jessica Camerato reported: June 10, 2005, in the eighth inning against the Mariners; May 5, 2009, in the sixth against the Astros; and April 7, 2019, in the fifth inning against the Mets.
The major league record for walks by a team in an inning, however, is 11, issued by another Washington team: the first A.L. Senators. On September 11, 1949, four Washington pitchers walked 11 Yankees in the third inning of a 20-5 loss in New York.
In the deadball era, Senators pitcher Dolly Gray on Aug. 28, 1909, walked eight batters – seven of them in a row – in the second inning against the White Sox in Chicago. Gray pitched a complete game one-hitter, but lost 6-4. Both walk totals remain the record in an inning by one man.
The N.L. record for walks in an inning by multiple pitchers is nine, set on April 24, 1957, by the Cubs against Cincinnati.
Washington baseball history 