With another impressive road win, Nats reach Memorial Day at .500
A Nationals club that has relied on an explosive lineup instead turned to elite pitching to shut down the Braves on back-to-back days
ATLANTA – As chaos reigned all around him, Orlando Ribalta stood tall and calm on the mound at Truist Park.
At the end of a brutally long and rain-filled weekend, the Nationals needed two more outs to beat the Braves and leave town with an unexpected series win. But things were starting to come undone.
The inning began with a 2-run lead and Gus Varland on the mound. Two singles later, it was Richard Lovelady entering from the bullpen in search of his second save in as many days. Three batters, an error and a walk later, it was now Ribalta jogging in from left field, tasked with stranding the bases loaded and his team only leading by one run, still needing two more outs to finish this thing off.
It was probably fitting that Ribalta was the last man standing out there, the man Blake Butera trusted to pitch out of the jam. Because for some reason, the 6-foot-8 right-hander keeps finding himself in bases-loaded situations. And more often than not, he has pulled off the escape.
“As much as it’s not like that, you try to treat it like it’s a regular inning,” he said.
So when Ribalta struck out Chadwick Tromp and then got Ronald Acuña Jr. to tap a grounder to first, with Luis García Jr. tossing the ball underhand to his pitcher covering for the final out of a dramatic 2-1 win, the calmest guy on the roster finally showed some emotion.
