Mebane native Zack Littell caps strong May with five straight wins

Zack Littell gave Mebane a month worth circling. The Eastern Alamance graduate finished May with five straight wins for the Washington Nationals, and the biggest change was not just the results but how he got there: after allowing 13 home runs in 26 2/3 innings in March and April combined, he gave up only two long balls in 30 2/3 innings in May and posted a 2.35 ERA.

That turnaround showed up in the box scores. Littell threw a season-high seven innings and struck out seven against the Cleveland Guardians, then followed with six more strong innings against the San Diego Padres, taking a shutout into the seventh before Washington held on for a 4-2 victory. Against Cleveland, he worked 7.0 innings, allowed five hits and one run, walked two and struck out seven. Against San Diego, he went 6.0 innings, gave up five hits and two runs, walked two and struck out five.

Nationals manager Blake Butera liked what he saw after the Padres game, saying he thought Littell “threw the ball great.” That praise fit a month in which Littell looked more like a stabilizing starter than a pitcher fighting for answers after a shaky April. The improvement in home run suppression mattered most, because it let him work deeper into games and kept Washington in position to win while the club’s offense surged.

The Nationals entered June at 31-29, and the lineup had helped Littell’s month by producing at a high level, with Washington ranking first in the majors since May 6 in home runs, extra-base hits, doubles, slugging percentage, OPS and runs scored. Littell’s own numbers also put him in a better place going forward. He carried a 5-4 record and a 5.01 ERA into his next scheduled start against Arizona, and he was already halfway to the 10-win season he split between the Tampa Bay Rays and Cincinnati Reds last year.

For Alamance County, the appeal is easy to understand. Littell, born in Burlington and a 2013 Eastern Alamance High School graduate, is doing this in the majors while carrying the name of Mebane with him every fifth day. When a local arm settles in like this in Washington, it becomes more than a stat line. It becomes a hometown marker.