Nationals manager Jim Riggleman believes his club has made strides at the plate in recent days. That has not always showed in the final score as Washington continues to lose one-run games by the bushel. But before Tuesday night’s 10-2 blowout of the Philadelphia Phillies, Riggleman insisted he saw progress.
With Cliff Lee on the mound for the Phillies – one of that team’s four elite starting pitchers – it seemed unlikely that progress would be evident on a hot, steamy night at Nationals Park.
“There’s nobody to miss with Philadelphia,” Riggleman said prior to the game about his opponent’s four top pitchers – Lee, Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels. “When you play Philadelphia you know you’re going to get a real quality starter. So it’s just a matter of going out there and beating them and competing. And our guys have competed well.”
Hard to argue with that – even if the results haven’t always been in Washington’s favor. Rookie Danny Espinosa batted 3-for-4 and hit two home runs with four RBI, Michael Morse went 3-for-5 with two RBI and two runs scored and Jayson Werth had a double and two RBI. That was more than enough offense for Nats starter Jason Marquis, who allowed just two runs in 6 1/3 innings to improve his record to 6-2 with a 4.13 ERA.
| Nats notes |
| » First baseman Michael Morse extended his season-high, team-best hit streak to nine games with a second-inning single off Phillies starter Cliff Lee. |
| » Nats third baseman Ryan Zimmerman (abdominal surgery) will take part in an extended spring training game in Viera, Fla., on Wednesday as he continues his rehabilitation process. |
| » Seven of Danny Espinosa‘s team-leading 10 home runs have been multi-run shots. |
“Getting ahead, throwing a lot of strike ones and attacking the zone a little bit better than I had the last couple of games,” Marquis said about the difference between Tuesday’s game and the nine combined runs he’d allowed in two previous starts. “I’ve been falling behind hitters and putting them in good hitters’ counts. Tonight I just attacked the hitters with good quality strikes early on and the defense made some good plays again.
Washington (23-31) evened this three-game series against Philadelphia (34-21), which is in first place in the National League East and entered the game 6-1 against the Nats so far this season. The two teams finish the three-game set with an afternoon contest at Nationals Park on Wednesday.
Espinosa, who also hit a home run on Monday off Halladay, has said in recent days that his homers come in bunches. That hot streak continued against the Phillies. Espinosa crushed a three-run homer to left field off Lee in the third inning. That capped a five-run inning to put Washington in control. Lee lasted just 5 1/3 innings with six runs allowed on seven hits and an uncharacteristic three walks. Espinosa posted his second career multi-homer game with a solo shot in the sixth inning.
“I don’t think anybody had lost any confidence,” said Espinosa, whose team had dropped 13 of 17 games overall. “We all have a lot of confidence going into every single game…We can hit them. They’re great pitchers, obviously. But they’ve had losses before. No one in this game is perfect. And with the offense we have we can take advantage of mistakes.”
After Domonic Brown and John Mayberry hit back-to-back homers in the fifth inning off Marquis – the second game in a row Philadelphia’s done that – the Phillies managed just six base runners with just one reaching scoring position. Relievers Tyler Clippard and Cole Kimball pitched 2 2/3 scoreless innings to close the door. Morse recorded his RBI double in the seventh followed by RBI singles from Ivan Rodriguez and Jerry Hairston to bust the game wide open at 9-2. Werth added a run-scoring double in the eighth.
“That was a big win. I feel good about our offense,” said Werth, whose team is averaging 4.4 runs per game over its last 22, but has also been wildly inconsistent. “Obviously, we haven’t been putting up the runs or driving guys in as much as we’d like or think we can. But it’s a long year and hopefully by the end of this thing the numbers will be there and the wins will be there and we’ll have more nights like this.”
