Before 36,680, Orioles win eighth straight road game, 2-1
Friday night at Nationals Park felt like the start of something big. There were two teams fighting for first place in their respective divisions, two illustrious managers matching wits, and a crowd big enough and interested enough by the 10th inning to still execute complete cycles of the wave.
Was this really the Washington Nationals and Baltimore Orioles?
On a night when fans from both teams tried to shout each other’s chants down, Nick Markakis made the loudest statement. His home run to the middle deck above the Nats bullpen in the 11th inning gave the Orioles a 2-1 victory before 36,680.
The rightfielder’s homer, his seventh of the year, gave Baltimore (26-14) its eighth straight win on the road and pushed the Orioles lead in the American League East to two games over Tampa Bay (24-16), a 5-3 loser Friday night to Atlanta.
Officially it was a road win, but there were plenty of Orioles fans in the stands. Nationals supporters answered their cheers, even after the decisive blast by Markakis.
“I think this is great for both teams, we’re both playing well. It’s great for the fans, it’s great for the cities,” said Nats third baseman Ryan Zimmerman (2 for 5). “It hasn’t been good times to be an Orioles fan or a Nationals fan over the past five years.”
Actually it’s been longer than that. The Orioles last winning season came in 1997 under current Nats manager Davey Johnson. Since arriving in Washington in 2005, the Nationals have yet to post a winning record.
With Friday’s loss, the Nationals (23-16) fell a game and a half behind Atlanta (25-15) in the National League East. It wasn’t for lack of good pitching however as Edwin Jackson allowed five hits and one walk in eight innings, fanning eight. Tyler Clippard and Sean Burnett each tacked on a scoreless inning in relief before Ryan Mattheus (2-1) served up his first home run since June 28 of last year.
“I tried to go in with the slider, cut it a little more, tried to get it up under his hands, left it hanging, kind of down and in, and he got the barrel of the bat on it,” Mattheus said. “I made a bad pitch. He’s a good hitter and good hitters take advantage.”
The Nationals got a game-tying solo home run from Ian Desmond in the sixth inning, his sixth blast this year, but nothing else as they struggled to move runners up and hit in the clutch.
“When you’re missing some key guys, it puts pressure on some other guys to be more aggressive and be more run-producing,” Johnson said. “We need to have patience when we get in those situations.”
The woes continued for second baseman Danny Espinosa, who went 0 for 3 and fanned twice. Roger Bernadina and Adam LaRoche went a combined 0 for 10 with four strikeouts. Bryce Harper (2 for 3) and Jesus Flores (1 for 4) reached base but were erased by O’s catcher Matt Wieters on stolen base attempts.
Flores was out easily when Jackson swung and missed on a hit and run as Johnson tried to get something going out of the struggling offense, which has produced 141 runs. Only four major league teams have scored fewer.
“The one with Jackson, we’re just trying to put the ball in play — fastball hitter against fastball pitcher, let him swing,” Johnson said. “Just trying too hard, the way I figure it. We’re not waiting ’til they come to us.”
Orioles starter Jake Arrieta fanned nine in seven innings, allowing six hits and a walk. Four relievers contributed four scoreless innings, allowing one hit and no walks. Kevin Gregg (2-1) got the win and Pedro Strop his third save as Orioles manager Buck Showalter rested closer Jim Johnson (14 saves).
Appropriately, the Nats stranded two runners in the final inning as LaRoche made the final out, hitting a bouncer to Strop.
“That was a tough one,” Johnson said. “It was a shame to waste such a great pitching effort by Jackson. He pitched outstanding.”
Still, it was a positive night for a baseball in Washington – a big, enthusiastic crowd, two teams on the rise, and the start perhaps of a long-awaited rivalry.
“For both of us to be doing well, for both of us to have kind of young teams with a core group of guys who are going to around for a while, I think that’s good for baseball and good for the cities,” Zimmerman said. “It’s good for everyone involved.”
Notes: Baltimore right-hander Jason Hammel (4-1, 2.88 ERA) opposes Washington lefty Ross Detwiler (3-2, 2.75 ERA) on Saturday night.
