Game 68: Nats at Giants
The Nationals seek another win in San Francisco and another road series win on a beautiful Tuesday evening at Oracle Park
SAN FRANCISCO – It’s a beautiful day by the bay, much better than it was for Monday night’s series opener, when it actually rained at Oracle Park for the first time I can ever remember in more than two decades of covering games here when the Nationals have come to town. They still found a way to win, rallying to score three runs in the top of the ninth and emerge with a 4-3 victory to lift themselves back over the .500 mark at 34-33.
The Nats will have Andrew Alvarez on the mound tonight for his second start since replacing the injured Jake Irvin in the rotation. The rookie left-hander, you might remember, made his season debut against the Giants in April, pitching in bulk relief behind Miles Mikolas and tossing 4 1/3 scoreless innings to earn the win. Blake Butera let Alvarez get up to 82 pitches last time out against the Marlins. We’ll see if he extends him any further tonight and tries to give the bullpen a breather, though you also have to assume Brad Lord is ready to go for multiple innings following Alvarez if needed.
Adrian Houser gets the starts for San Francisco, and the Nats had success against the veteran right-hander back in April, scoring five runs off him in 5 2/3 innings. James Wood led off that game with an opposite-field homer. Luis García Jr. and José Tena added RBI hits in the second inning to help the team jump out to an early lead. Interestingly enough, Butera is using the same top of the lineup tonight, with García batting second and Tena batting third as the DH. Don’t be surprised if Butera swaps guys out as this game moves along, especially Tena.
WASHINGTON NATIONALS at SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS
Where: Oracle Park
Gametime: 9:45 p.m. EDT
TV: Nationals TV (channel listings)
Radio: 106.7 FM
Weather: Clear, 65 degrees, wind 13 mph out to center
NATIONALS
RF James Wood
1B Luis García Jr.
DH José Tena
SS CJ Abrams
LF Daylen Lile
3B Jorbit Vivas
2B Nasim Nuñez
C Drew Millas
CF Jacob Young
LHP Andrew Alvarez
GIANTS
LF Casey Schmitt
1B Rafael Devers
2B Luis Arraez
SS Willy Adames
RF Jung Hoo Lee
DH Bryce Eldridge
3B Matt Chapman
C Daniel Susac
CF Jonah Cox
RHP Adrian Houser
Blake Butera entrusted Dylan Crews to pinch-hit in a big spot: bases loaded, Nats up 3-2 in the 7th. Crews responded with patience, drawing only his second walk in 70 plate appearances. (Also got a runner home on a wild pitch to make it 4-2.)
Then Daylen Lile made it 5-2 by drawing a bases-loaded walk. But they missed a chance to blow this one open.
I don't know if Simon Mathews' message during that mound visit was as simple as "throw your fastball over the plate," but that's exactly what Andrew Alvarez did. And he managed to escape a bases-loaded jam by throwing four consecutive fastballs over the plate to two batters.