Ankiel hits grand slam, Lannan earns victory
Rick Ankiel continued to annihilate almost every pitch thrown his way. Ian Desmond finally punched a ball over the outfield fence. John Lannan solved his control issues and struck out a season-high eight batters. Games don’t go much smoother than that.
Ankiel has carried his hot bat into August and his grand slam in the fourth inning turned the tide in the Nationals’ favor during an easy 9-3 victory over the Atlanta Braves at Nationals Park on Tuesday night.
Lannan and Desmond did their part, too. A sacrifice fly, a single and a two-run homer — his first since April 28 — gave Desmond reason to smile at the plate. And Lannan, who had walked four batters in each of his last three starts, pitched into the seventh inning allowing three earned runs. That gave Washington (53-56) its fourth consecutive win and a chance at a series sweep on Wednesday afternoon.
| Nats notes |
| » First baseman Michael Morse has recorded at least two hits in eight of his last 14 games. He leads Washington with 32 multi-hit games on the season. |
| » Nats pitcher John Lannan now has five RBI in his last 10 at-bats. He needed 192 previous at-bats to produce five RBI. |
| Washington’s offense posted a double, two triples and three home runs — each of those hits from a different batter. |
“It felt good,” Desmond said. “Just glad to get the RBI and drive the run in. We’ve been scuffling with runners in scoring position all year so it was kind of nice to finally be able to participate in that and see the offense move in the right direction.”
Every Nats batter except Lannan (8-7, 3.65 ERA) produced at least one hit. Seven of the nine batters who started the game reached base at least twice. Michael Morse crushed a solo home run into the second deck in right field — one of the few right-handed batters to do that since Nationals Park opened in 2008. Lannan even contributed with a fielder’s choice in the five-run fourth inning when Atlanta first baseman Freddie Freeman came home with a throw only to pull catcher David Ross off the plate. Before he landed, Jonny Gomes took him out with a slide and scored.
Ankiel, meanwhile, is 21-for-64 (.328 batting average) with three doubles, five home runs and 14 RBI since being activated from the disabled list on July 1. With Washington down 3-1 entering the fourth inning, Lannan’s grounder cut the Braves’ lead to a run. Desmond and Wilson Ramos had already singled in the inning so Ankiel strode to the plate with the bases loaded against his former team. He lined a pitch from Atlanta starter Derek Lowe (6-10, 4.86 ERA) over the 402-foot sign in dead center to put the Nats on top 6-3.
Only four Braves batters reached base after the fourth inning. Henry Rodriguez pitched the final 2 1/3 innings in relief with four strikeouts for the Nats to close out the game. Lannan and Rodriguez combined to tie Washington’s season-high in total strikeouts with 12.
“Today [the strikeouts] were because I had my change-up,” Lannan said. “I had to just realize … what I am — sinker, change-up. My secondary stuff was pretty good. I’m really not trying to strike guys out. I want early contact. But when I feel good about my off-speed [pitches], I have to keep going with them.”
