Nationals manager Jim Riggleman said before Saturday night’s game against the St. Louis Cardinals that slugger Adam Dunn was ready to end a 19-game slump.
Those words – helped by his own actions – proved prophetic. Riggleman dropped Dunn one spot in the batting order to No. 5, hoping to “give him a different feel” at the plate. It worked beautifully as Dunn drove in five runs in Washington’s 14-5 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals at Nationals Park.
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Dunn batted 2-for-3 and drew a walk. He doubled home two runs in the third inning and hit a three-run home run in the fifth that just cleared the wall in right-center field to break a 5-5 tie.
“I wouldn’t say I’m out of [the slump],” Dunn said. “The last couple of days I’ve been feeling really good and taking some good swings. Just trying to figure out why I was missing those pitches. Looked over some tape [with hitting coach Rick Eckstein] and it was kind of a minor mechanical deal.”
The Nats (55-75) have won two of three games from the Cardinals (69-58) and can take the series with a victory on Sunday afternoon. St. Louis failed to gain ground in the National League Central on the first-place Cincinnati Reds (74-55), who lost Saturday. The Cardinals also fell two games back of Philadelphia (72-57) in the N.L. wild-card chase.
St. Louis took a 3-0 lead off Nats starter Livan Hernandez (9-9, 3.49 ERA) in the first inning before controversy erupted in the third. With runners at first and second base and no one out, Ian Desmond dropped a bunt that Cardinals pitcher Kyle Lohse fielded and fired past first baseman Albert Pujols for an apparent error. Hernandez scored and Adam Kennedy advanced to third base on the play.
But home-plate umpire Dan Bellino ruled that Desmond had run out of the base path on his way to first. That’s an automatic out and the runners had to go back to their original bases. The Nats were incensed. First-base coach Dan Radison was ejected. Washington manager Jim Riggleman had heated conversations with Bellino, first-base umpire Rob Drake and crew chief Joe West. Meanwhile, players were screaming from the dugout, including pitcher Scott Olsen, who was also ejected.
“For me, umpiring is extremely tough. They do a great job. They’re the best in the world. I’ve got know complaints with umpiring,” Riggleman said. “The play at first on the bunt – that bothers me because I just don’t like the rule. They probably got it right. But it’s a terrible rule. It’s got to be changed. Everybody knows you can’t run inside the line. It’s impossible.”
It was rendered moot anyway two batters later when Ryan Zimmerman popped a soft single to right-center field to score Hernandez. Dunn followed with his two-run double. Michael Morse then singled home Dunn.
The Cardinals’ bats weren’t exactly quiet. Pujols had an RBI single in the first inning and Jon Jay doubled home two runs. In the fifth, Lohse helped his own cause with an RBI double and Felipe Lopez drove him in with another double to tie the game at 5.
But Washington went back ahead in the bottom of the frame. Lohse was in good shape with two down and nobody on base before a single by Roger Bernadina and an infield hit by Zimmerman gave Dunn a chance to bat. The big slugger, hitting No. 5 in the order for the first time since 2008 when he still played for Cincinnati, put the Nats back on top. That three-run blast made it 8-5. It was homer No. 32 for Dunn – but his first since Aug. 11 in a loss to Florida. That game ended a scalding stretch where Dunn hit seven homers in the first 11 days of August.
The Cardinals tried to mount a rally in the seventh. With runners at first and second and one out, Washington center fielder Nyjer Morgan made a fine running catch on a Lopez pop up to shallow center. Reliever Sean Burnett then got Pujols to line out softly to second base to end the threat. Burnett also pitched a scoreless eighth.
Dunn was far from the only star at the plate for the Nats. Michael Morse had a career-high four hits, including two doubles, an RBI and two runs scored. On his own bobblehead night, Ivan Rodriguez was 2-for-4 with two RBI. And Willie Harris broke the game wide open during a six-run eighth inning for Washington. Harris, a pinch hitter, ripped a two-run double down the line in right to make it 11-5. It would have scored three runs, but Morgan was ruled out when umpires said he missed home plate and was illegally aided back towards it by Rodriguez.
No matter. Harris scored moments later on a base hit by Kennedy, who himself scored on a two-run homer by Bernadina. Those 14 runs were the Nats’ most in a home game since moving to the District in 2005. All the damage in the eighth came off former Washington reliever Mike MacDougal, who gave up six earned runs on five hits. In a week filled with heartache, including five losses and a serious injury to star rookie pitcher Stephen Strasburg, it was at least a small measure of consolation – and fun.
“When Stephen went down things were kind of crazy going around,” Morse said. “But we kept fighting. We’ve been in every game, especially the one that went into extra innings [on Thursday]. And to play some good games and get a win today is good for us.”
