Orioles take Battle of the Beltways series with 6-5 win. The on-field rivalry between the Nationals and the Baltimore Orioles remains a work-in-progress. But with both teams in first place after years of losing, fans in both cities are responding.
On a gorgeous Saturday night in the District, 42,331 watched Baltimore hold on for a 6-5 victory over Washington at Nationals Park. By the end, the relatively mixed crowd was roaring for everything – a Ryan Zimmerman homer eliciting just a few more cheers than the final out, when Orioles reliever Jim Johnson blew a fastball past Adam LaRoche to wrap up yet another victory for his club.
“This whole thing, both of us playing well, both of us having young, core groups of guys on the teams that [the] fanbase can kind of relate with and cheer for more than one year at a time,” Zimmerman said. “I think it’s great for both cities and it’s great for baseball. It’s great for this area. There’s nothing bad about it. It’s going to be fun and it’s only going to get better as the years go on.”
With six games between the two teams every year, the animosity just isn’t there between the players. The Nats will experience that on Monday when they travel to face National League East rival Philadelphia. But, for now, a big, happy crowd on a Saturday in May is welcome for both clubs.
That Washington lost for the second game in a row was disappointing and in large measure thanks to a rough start from left-hander Ross Detwiler. He made it through five innings, but gave up two-run home runs to both Adam Jones and Nick Markakis, plus a two-run single to Robert Andino. Three pitches, six runs.
“I gave up, what, six [runs] in five innings? It’s awful,” Detwiler said. “Put the team in a hole early. They did a great job trying to dig out. It’s just too much early.”
Roger Bernadina needed some help from his teammates to avoid being an early goat after misplaying a line drive by J.J. Hardy into a triple in left field. But Zimmerman got him off the hook when he deftly fielded a hard grounder by Markakis and decided to spin and throw home just in time to get the sliding Hardy at the plate.
The Nats weren’t so fortunate in the second inning. A pair of sacrifice bunts pushed Wilson Betemit and Xavier Avery into scoring position and Andino singled to left to drive in both runners and give Baltimore a 2-0 lead. Andino slipped coming around first base, however, and was out after a brief rundown.
Detwiler put his team in a deeper hole in the third inning when Jones smoked a 1-0 fastball over the visiting bullpen in left field for a two-run home run. That was No. 14 on the season for Jones, who is the second red-hot opposing center fielder to visit Nationals Park in recent days. Pittsburgh’s Andrew McCutchen did his damage earlier in the week.
Washington didn’t get its first base runner until Bernadina walked in the third inning. It didn’t get its first hit until Zimmerman singled up the middle in the fourth. In neither frame did the Nats manage to put anyone else on against Hammel, acquired from Colorado in the offseason in what’s become a steal for the Orioles.
And they fell further behind in the fifth inning when Markakis ripped a 1-1 fastball over the out-of-town scoreboard in right. That came after an Andino double and put Baltimore up 6-0. Given the state of its offense these days that appeared far too much for Washington to overcome.
Not quite. An RBI single in the fifth by Steve Lombardozzi drove in the first Nats’ run of the game. In the sixth, they scored three more times thanks to a Rick Ankiel double, which knocked Hammel from the contest, an RBI ground out by catcher Carlos Maldonado and an RBI base hit by Bernadina. Just like that it was 6-4.
But Washington let another opportunity pass by in the seventh after Lombardozzi led off with a single. Bryce Harper popped out to right field, and Orioles reliever Luis Ayala, a former Nat, got both Zimmerman and LaRoche to strike out on sliders. And there was another chance in the eighth after Ayala allowed a leadoff double to Ian Desmond. But reliever Troy Patton retired pinch hitter Xavier Nady and set-up man Pedro Strop got Bernadina to fly out to center. That brought up Danny Espinosa as a pinch hitter. He lined out to left to end that threat.
Zimmerman did homer with two outs in the bottom of the ninth off closer Jim Johnson to cut the margin to 6-5, but it was too little, too late. LaRoche struck out to end it.
“Any time [a team falls behind] that’s tough,” Zimmerman said. “But it happens in a game. You can’t always jump out to a lead and cruise home. This team handles adversity well and we battle to the last out. We did that again tonight. That’s all we can ask for.”
