BALTIMORE – A game that presents a lot of quality at-bats through a reconfigured lineup, a heated (and very audible) exchange with the flat creator that led to the release of the hit coach and the dismissal of a pitcher who ‘ t of the tribune visited, a dominant start by Max Scherzer that imploded through a few monster home runs and then a gift error to let the forward score finally came down on the two flamethrowers the Citizens now deployed on the back of her bull.
The Nats went on to escape from Camden Yards with a series victory only if Tanner Rainey en Daniel Hudson could have a one-time lead against a feisty Orioles club that gave the defending champions everything they can handle in six head-to-head games this season.
There were some harrowing moments along the way, but that potent bullpen combo ended in a 6-5 victory and sent the Nationals to Atlanta with two well-deserved wins this weekend against their re-emerging geographic rivals.
“We won. At the end of the day we won,” said Scherzer, referring to his own outing, but it applies today to the team as a whole. “Yes, I can go back and watch the video and criticize myself “At the end of the day, I’m coming here to win. We won today, so that’s the most important thing.”
A game that was tied after Scherzer allowed the home points to Pedro Severino and Anthony Santander turned the Nats’ way back into the top of the eighth when Orioles third baseman Rio Ruiz felt Kurt Suzuki’s routine grounder and throws the ball away. The inning had been over. Instead, the error is allowed Juan Soto to score from the second and give the Nationals the lead back.
Rainey then wriggled his way out of a jam at the bottom of the eighth, hitting Chance Sisco, Severino and Dwight Smith Jr., all looking at fastballs, the latter with the band 90 yards away.
“When he gets two strikes, everyone knows he has a really good slider,” manager Davey Martinez said during his postgame Zoom session with reporters. ‘But they need to realize that he can throw a fastball too. Now that he’s locating his fastball, it’s hard. That’s a tough at-bat for a hitter. His game is good at the moment. We have to keep him that way. I like to give the ball in the eighth inning. ”
It was the last appearance of Rainey’s eye opening, which rose to the primary set role with Sean Doolittle en Will Harris hurt and wrestle. And after Hudson (who blew a save against the Orioles in Washington last weekend) finished this end with a 1-2-3 ninth, a Nationals club had been desperate for a win after a rough 7-11 start only his second one-run win this season of 60 games.
“They have our number, for whatever reason, this season,” Hudson said of the Orioles, who won four of six in this year’s Battle of the Beltways. “To get a little redemption from the game at home that we blew up late … to get out of here with a W makes up for that a little bit.”
The heaviest moment of this came in the second inning, when coach Kevin Long and pitcher struck Aníbal Sánchez (sitting in the stands) both appeared to be complaining about Will Little’s regional zone, hearing their arguments fairly within the empty ballpark and on TV screens in the region.
“It’s something we need to talk about,” Martinez said with a laugh. “We all compete, and we all try to do our best, and those things happen. The kind of stink you can hear all over. I try to dampen everything with this mask, and when I say something, I try to cover my mouth, but it’s just part of the game. But it’s angry, I will not hurt you. Sometimes you say things you do not want to say. It just happens. ”
Martinez explained that only Long was actually postponed. Crew chief Ángel Hernández asked him to tell Sánchez to leave the stands, where rotation members who have not sat this season have sat.
That was it for drama off the field. The seventh inning featured high drama on the field.
His pitch counted at 96 when the inning began, Scherzer took back the first two fights he faced. Now, with Santander (who was already homegrown in the first) on the plate and Rainey hot in the dies, Martinez had to make a decision.
The manager stuts with his ace. And Scherzer responded by leaving a 2-0 exchange over the plate to Santander, who blew it on the right field line for the gay of the game band.
“Of course, that was a big home game there in the seventh,” Scherzer said. ‘I’m proud to be sure I’m strong, that the seventh inning could still be my best inning. That, to me, is frustrating to give up that homer in that situation. ”
The homer spoiled what could have been a dominant start. Scherzer struck out 10 and looked as good as he has in weeks. But all five runs he allowed came through three homers.
“It happens,” Martinez said. ‘He’s trying to increase his fastball. Sometimes he lets balls up, and they get hit hard. But he competes. To me, there really is no one else you want in the game when the game is on the line other than Max Scherzer. ”
And so with what was once a 5-1 Nationals lead now evaporating, the game had to be determined late by the bullpens.
May Starlin Castro wounded, Howie Kendrick on the couch for the second straight day with a tight hamstring and Adam Eaton, Eric Thames en Luis García all sitting against a left-hander, the Nationals lineup didn’t look much like what was seen earlier this season. What that group lacked in fame was more than in quality at-bats, especially in a highly-anticipated, three-run top of the first.
Trea Turner, as aggressively a leadoff hitter as there is in the major, worked an 11-pitch walk to set the table. Soto, played second for the first time this season and only the second time since he was a rookie, then hit the shift with a single-opposing field. And when Cabrera scored his 10th goal in 20 at-bats versus lefties, the Nats were first on the board.
It went on. Kurt Suzuki, batting cleanup for only the 12th time in the last decade, lifts a rare opposing field single to the right, and Carter Kieboom followed by a sacrificial flight. And when Victor Robles delivered a two-out RBI single to the left, the Nationals had a 3-0 lead and forced Orioles starter John Means out of the game to just 34 pitches.
“Resources had not been stored again for a while,” Martinez said. ‘We just told the boys to hit the ball up and hit in strikes. They put some good at-bats together. Every time you come out and score three points if you’re your number 1 man, that’s pretty nice. ”
There would be more quality bats all afternoon, though runes did not come as easily as in the top of the first. Suzuki (sac fly) and Kieboom (RBI single to right) stepped together again to ride in the fifth in a pair, but the Nationals let the bases charge that inning and again in the sixth against the bullpen of Baltimore.
That did not seem like it would be a problem. Until it became quite a problem, thanks to two major swings from Scherzer, the first by one of his former battery mates.
Once upon a time, Severino had to be the catcher of the Nationals of the future. But after failing to take advantage of enough chances to prove he actually deserved that job, Severino (who was out of options) was placed on exemptions and tracked down by the Orioles. He has since been fired and become the catcher the Nationals have always hoped he would be.
And today that all came together at the bottom of the sixth, when Severino stepped up to the plate with two up and hammered a 2-0 fast ball from Scherzer on the left field and inside the foul pole for a three-run homer .
What was a fairly dominant start by Scherzer now turned tired. And one cup later it fell apart, this turned into a whole new ball game, although one that the visitors still found satisfying at the end of the day.
“It was nice that we scored and were able to win,” Martinez said.
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