It was a team in desperate search of a victory. Any victory. After a disastrous road trip the Nationals needed to feel good about themselves lest the 2011 season slip away like so many before it.
It appeared they had one on Friday at Nationals Park. After reliever Drew Storen ended the San Padres’ lone rally of the night with an eighth-inning strikeout, starter John Lannan’s best performance of the season was secured. Alas, things are never that easy for Washington.
Storen gave up the game-tying home run to Jason Bartlett on his first pitch in the ninth inning. It took an immediate answer by Nats slugger Michael Morse, who hit a solo home run to left-center field in the bottom of the ninth to lift Washington to that dramatic 2-1 win.
It was the first ever game-ending home run by Morse. His blast came on the first pitch thrown by San Diego reliever Mike Adams It took just eight innings for Lannan to lower his ERA by .63 – from 5.03 to 4.40. That’s the benefit of facing one of Major League Baseball’s worst lineups. Of course, you could say the same things about the Nats (22-28), who have had their own issues at the plate this season. But Lannan took full advantage of the hapless Padres, allowing just two hits and two walks in 7 2/3 innings. He didn’t get the win. But he was also more than happy to share the credit with Morse after a 1-7 road trip that tested the players’ nerves.
“This was huge. We’ve been on the road forever, it feels like,” Lannan said. “So to come back home and start this homestand on a good note is great for team morale and to keep our heads up. We’re not that far off.”
San Diego (20-31) entered the night with the second-worst team OPS among the 30 big-league clubs. It never put more than two runners on base in an inning against Lannan until the eighth. A single by Alberto Gonzalez and a walk to pinch hitter Brad Hawpe set up first and second with two out. On came Storen, who toyed with Padres leadoff batter Chris Denorfia before earning a called strike three on a wicked slider. To then shake off San Diego’s ninth-inning homer and still come out on top has should provide a bigger boost than your run-of-the-mill victory, right?
It doesn’t hurt,” said Nats third baseman Jerry Hairston, who was actually ejected in the seventh inning after arguing he was “quick pitched” by Padres starter Clayton Richard (seven innings, one earned run, three hits). “It doesn’t hurt. Hopefully it’ll be the start of something good. We feel that we’ve got a good ballclub – even with the injuries we have a good ballclub. Hopefully we’ll get going.”
The Nats scored their lone run in the fifth inning when rookie Danny Espinosa ripped his seventh home run of the season off the back of the visiting bullpen in left field. Otherwise, Washington itself managed just four hits and three walks against three San Diego pitchers. But two of the hits were homers, which proved just enough.
“We had, what, four hit today? We won. So that’s a big positive for us,” Morse said. “Because hits have [not] been coming. It’s been tough. In Milwaukee we hit pretty good and yet we lost a couple games. A game like this we got our momentum going now. I like it. We all like it. Just want to keep using it and go with it.”
