Nationals Park had the feel of a small town after a carnival has departed. Stephen Strasburg played no role in Wednesday night’s game against the Pittsburgh Pirates. The 21-year-old conducted a brief media interview in the dugout before the game. Afterwards, he dressed at his locker unbothered as his teammates answered the how and whys of another Nationals victory – this time by a 7-5 score.
Gone were the legion of fans, the media pack, the national spotlight. In that very disruptive wake was simply a regular-season baseball game of limited consequence. That lack of attention didn’t change anything for the Nats, however. Strasburg, after a brilliant 14-strikeout, two-run performance on Tuesday night before a roaring sellout crowd, will be back on the mound Sunday afternoon against the Cleveland Indians. By then his team badly wants to be back at the .500 mark. With its latest win, Washington (29-31) already escaped last place in the National League East.
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“[Tuesday] night was great. I’m glad I was a part of it,” said Nats starter John Lannan, who endured a shaky 4 2/3 innings before the Pirates knocked him from the mound. “I’m glad [Strasburg] did great. But that was yesterday. That was his game and today was my game. It didn’t even cross my mind that whatever he did last night would interfere with what I had to do.”
It didn’t. But the result was the same. Ryan Zimmerman drove home the go-ahead run with an RBI single in the bottom of the seventh inning to put the Nats ahead for good. Washington relievers Tyler Walker, Drew Storen, Tyler Clippard and Matt Capps combined for 4 1/3 scoreless innings to keep the Pirates at bay. It was Capps’ major-league leading 20th save of the season and came against his former team. Pittsburgh non-tendered Capps last winter after his terrible struggles there in 2009.
“They’re all nice,” Capps said. “But to be able to go out and get two [saves] against the team that ultimately didn’t want you anymore and to show that I’m still capable of doing the job – it’s got a little extra incentive to it.”
Zimmerman’s hard ground ball in the seventh banged off the leg of Pittsburgh relief pitcher D.J. Carrasco and deflected into shallow right field. That allowed Cristian Guzman to score from second base and break a 5-5 tie. Wil Nieves’ sacrifice fly in the bottom of the eighth inning brought home Josh Willingham and gave the game its final margin.
Both teams managed a three-run inning during the early portion of the contest. The Nats received back-to-back doubles in the fourth from Roger Bernadina and Ian Desmond. An infield hit by Lannan – the ball took an odd bounce on the wet infield grass as shortstop Ronny Cedeno charged it – led to another RBI hit. That made it 5-4 Washington, which got on the board in the first inning thanks to an Adam Dunn two-run home run. It was his second in as many days.
That Nats’ three-run rally came one inning after the Pirates themselves scored three times without benefit of an extra-base hit. A fielder’s choice grounder by Adam LaRoche scored one run. Lastings Milledge followed with an RBI single and took second on a throwing error by center fielder Nyjer Morgan. Cedeno’s base hit drove home Milledge. A run-scoring single by Neil Walker the following inning gave Pittsburgh its fourth run. The Pirates then tied it at 5 on a single from starting pitcher Brad Lincoln in the fifth.
Lincoln, 25, batted 2-for-3 in his major-league debut. But on the mound he allowed five earned runs on seven hits with two walks. Pittsburgh outfielder Jose Tabata, another of the organization’s top prospects, also made his first big-league start. He had two infield hits, scored a run and walked before leaving the game with a cramp in his hamstring. The Pirates dropped to 23-36 with the loss.
Garrett Jones doubled to left off Capps with one out in the ninth. But the Nats’ closer induced a ground out by LaRoche and a pop out by Milledge to second baseman Adam Kennedy to end it. Storen (2-0, 1.74 ERA) earned his second big-league victory. Bernadina was 3-for-4 with two doubles, an RBI and a stolen base. Just three days shy of his 26th birthday, Bernadina is fighting to establish himself as a legitimate starting option in right field for Washington. He now has nine hits in seven games this month and has drawn four walks, too. It wasn’t a historic night at the big ballpark on South Capitol Street. But there was more than enough meaning to go around – even if only 18,876 were there to see it.
“[Bernadina’s] been getting a little better all along. He excites us at times and then kind of takes a step backwards,” said Nats manager Jim Riggleman. “But these last three or four games he’s been really on top of his game – both offensively and defensively, running the bases. He’s doing it all.”
