Instant Analysis: Nats 9, Padres 4
With a wild, six-run rally in the bottom of the seventh, the Nationals stormed back to beat San Diego and get themselves back over .500
The Nationals didn’t need a flurry of big hits to come from behind and beat the Padres today. They just needed a flurry of quality plate appearances that included patience, hustle and mistakes by the San Diego defense to put up a 6-spot in the bottom of the seventh and flip the script on this ballgame.
As they did in Friday’s series opener, the Padres made Nationals pitchers work, extending at-bats and driving up pitch counts. Foster Griffin needed 26 pitches to complete a top of the first that only featured four batters, setting the tone for an uphill battle all afternoon. Griffin only made it through five innings on 90 pitches, done in by three solo homers off the bats of Xander Bogaerts, Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr. (who finally hit his first home run of the season).
Michael King had no such trouble making quick work of the Nats lineup. The San Diego right-hander cruised through his first six innings on a mere 64 pitches, with only Drew Millas’ third-inning homer as a blemish on his pitching line. But after asking the grounds crew to do some repair to the mound prior to the bottom of the seventh, the game completely got away from King and the Nationals took full advantage.
With nothing but singles, fielder’s choices, walks, a hit-by-pitch and some hustle on the bases, the Nats scored six runs off King and reliever Bradgley Rodriguez, completely changing the storyline. Padres rookie manager Craig Stammen wound up getting ejected for the first time after arguing a call at second base in which Bogaerts’ foot was off the bag as Dylan Crews slid hard into him.
Clayton Beeter then pitched his way out of a bases-loaded jam in the eighth. And after Curtis Mead extended the lead with a two-run double in the bottom of the inning, Beeter returned for the ninth to close out the win.
HITTING HIGHLIGHT: The bottom-of-the-seventh rally wasn’t exactly a work of art, but it sure was effective. The Nationals finally got to King with a leadoff single by CJ Abrams and a grounder to second by José Tena, who reached on the fielder’s choice. Jorbit Vivas (0-for-24 with runners in scoring position) then drew a walk to load the bases, after which Crews was drilled in the left arm by a pitch to force home a run and knock King from the game. Millas’ grounder to second could’ve been a 4-6-3 double play. Instead, it resulted in the wacky play that got Stammen ejected and left everybody safe. Mead then drew a bases-loaded walk. Luis García Jr. added to the rally with a two-run single up the middle, and Daylen Lile followed by hustling down the line to prevent a double play that allowed the sixth run of the inning to score.
PITCHING HIGHLIGHT: This wasn’t a bad start for Griffin. He didn’t let the Padres sustain any rallies. He threw a decent number of strikes (58 out of 90 pitches). He struck out five in five innings. But when they made contact, they made loud contact, to the tune of three solo homers. Each came on a different type of pitch: a cutter to Bogaerts, a sweeper to Machado and a fastball to Tatis. But Griffin suffered from the same thing that ailed the Nationals pitching staff Friday night: long at-bats. San Diego’s hitters fouled off 21 pitches against him, and ultimately it was his inability to put guys away that prevented him from sticking around long enough for a quality start.
NOTABLE: Tatis’ 238 plate appearances without a homer were the most in MLB this season. Nasim Nunez now ranks third on that list at 199, behind Chandler Simpson (227) and Nick Gonzales (207).
UP NEXT: The series concludes Sunday at 1:35 p.m. when Zack Littell gets the ball against San Diego right-hander Griffin Canning. TV: Nationals TV RADIO: 106.7 FM
The crowd today was the wildest I've heard in DC in a long time. A virtual 10th man.
This was almost like watching two different games.
For six innings, the Nats weren’t patient. They helped King out with weak contact and quick outs. In the seventh, they finally made him throw strikes, and everything changed. It wasn’t built on big hits. It was patience, hustle, putting the ball in play, and taking advantage of Padres mistakes.
Mead coming off the bench is starting to look like a real weapon. He gives Butera more versatility, because he can use him in the right matchup and still have a quality bat available late.
Lord was excellent again, too.
The only thing I didn’t understand was not having another reliever ready when Varland started to lose it. Butera has pushed a lot of the right buttons this year, but that was one of the few mistakes I’ve seen from him. Overall, this was a great example of how the process of patience and pressure can completely flip a game.