Werth, LaRoche provide big hits to help beat Reds
The debut seasons in Washington for high-priced free agent Jayson Werth and relative bargain Adam LaRoche were miserable. While Werth struggled with the expectations that accompanied his $126?million contract, LaRoche struggled with a more tangible ailment — a shoulder injury.
A season later, however, both are off to fast starts as they try to make 2011 a distant memory.
Against the Reds on Saturday, Werth and LaRoche delivered timely hits for an offense that needed them. Werth’s RBI double in the seventh and LaRoche’s two-run double in the third jump-started the Nats’ offense and helped deliver another free agent, pitcher Edwin Jackson, his first victory in Washington 4-1.
Before 35,489 at Nationals Park, Werth and LaRoche each went 2-for-3 to lead a 10-hit attack. Often helter-skelter Jackson pitched brilliantly in a rare economic effort — two hits, one walk, nine strikeouts and 92 pitches over nine mostly stress-free innings to give the Nationals (7-2) their fifth straight victory.
In the eighth inning, when Jackson (1-0) walked Chris Heisey to allow his first base runner since the second inning, the right-hander muscled up and fanned Drew Stubbs, Devin Mesoraco and pinch hitter Scott Rolen, drawing a standing ovation as he walked off the mound.
It was the fifth complete game in the well-traveled career of the 28-year-old, each with a different team. Jackson has also registered complete games for Tampa Bay, Detroit, Arizona (no-hitter) and the Chicago White Sox.
Jackson yielded his lone run in the second inning when Miguel Cairo laced a double down the third-base line and Stubbs hit a ground-ball single through the left side of the infield. When Mesoraco followed with an inning-ending double play grounder to Ryan Zimmerman, it began a string in which Jackson would get 17 outs from 16 batters.
Jackson hopes to avoid the free agent jinx that hit Werth and LaRoche last year, when Werth hit .232 and LaRoche was limited to 43 games. Both entered Saturday hitting over .300.
Werth scored the Nats’ first run on an RBI single by catcher Jesus Flores. In the third inning, LaRoche put the Nats up for good with a booming double to right-center that made it 3-1.
