You’ll see it there in the box score: Marlon Anderson singles to left field. The story of the New York Mets’ 3-1 win over the Washington Nationals begins with that hit.
Anderson’s seventh-inning single set off a series of key moves from both benches. When Brian Schneider singled, the Nationals had two men on with two outs and pitcher Tony Armas coming to the plate. Though Armas had been dominant, allowing only two hits and one run in seven innings, manager Frank Robinson chose to pinch hit for Armas in a 1-1 game.
Recommended Stories
He sent Daryle Ward to the plate, and Mets manager Willie Randolph responded by bringing in Royce Ring to pitch. Ward walked on four pitches, and Randolph made two more key moves. He called for reliever Chad Bradford and sent Michael Tucker into left field, placing him ninth in the batting order.
When Alfonso Soriano grounded out to second, the Nats had stranded three and scored none. Meanwhile, their starter had exited the game.
For the Mets, the moves worked perfectly, as Robinson called for reliever Jon Rauch to replace Armas.
With one out in the eighth, Tucker settled in at the plate. Tucker was on the Nationals’ roster during spring training, but when the team signed Ward in late March, Tucker was let go. He said he wasn’t thinking about that during the at-bat. He locked in on Rauch’s first pitch and hit it over the right-field fence to give the Mets the lead.
“Mainly, all you want to do is get a good pitch and not miss it,” Tucker said. “Fortunately, I didn’t miss the pitch he threw me.”
The Nationals wasted a fine outing from Armas in front of 37,732 fans at RFK Stadium. The afternoon was also spoiled by a series of lapses from the Nationals. In the field, the Nats committed three errors, none bigger than the one Anderson made in the seventh inning. He couldn’t cleanly field a grounder from Jose Valentin with two outs in the inning, and David Wright scored. An inning later, Ryan Zimmerman was doubled off first base when he mistakenly rounded second on a fly ball to left field with only one out.
“You expect major league players to make certain plays, and we didn’t make them,” Robinson said.
The loss also overshadowed Soriano’s 38th home run of the year. The solo effort in the fourth inning was the 200th home run of Soriano’s career.
