Werth homers on his bobblehead night to snap Washington’s losing skid
Yunesky Maya arrived in Washington, D.C. from Syracuse, N.Y. around 1:30 p.m. on Saturday afternoon. He spent the next four hours in an awkward limbo while waiting to hear if the Nationals had traded pitcher Jason Marquis, who was originally scheduled to start against the New York Mets.
Maya was the night’s understudy. He would either be pitching in the game or he would have one of the best seats in the house to watch it. News of a trade finally leaked around 5 p.m., but Marquis had to wait by his locker for another hour until the deal with the Arizona Diamondbacks became official. At about 6 p.m. – barely an hour before first pitch at Nationals Park – Maya strolled into the home clubhouse, greeted his teammates and took his spot amongst the row of locker stalls reserved for the starting pitchers.
As a fitting end to a bizarre day, Maya pitched 5 1/3 shutout innings, earned his first big-league victory and injured himself in the process. Washington received a three-run home run from Jayson Werth in the first inning – it was his bobblehead night – and the relief corps of Ross Detwiler, Tyler Clippard and Drew Storen made that lead hold up in a 3-0 victory.
The win snapped a six-game losing streak for the Nats (50-56) and brought them one day closer to Major League Baseball’s trade deadline, which expires at 4 p.m. on Sunday. Marquis and veteran utility man Jerry Hairston didn’t make it. Both were dealt on Saturday – Hairston to the Milwaukee Brewers for a Double-A center fielder, Marquis to Arizona for a Single-A shortstop. Such is life for a team trying to win as many games as possible while at the same time collecting future assets. Those goals sometimes conflict.
“I think the moves we’re making are prudent moves for the future,” Werth said. “Maybe subtracting for the immediate, but for long-term [general manager Mike Rizzo] and the organization is going in the right direction. We’re trying to get this team where it needs to be for the next five, six, seven years.”
Both Hairston and Marquis are free agents at the end of the season. But other players, like closer Drew Storen, will have to endure another morning of rumors. Storen, listed for almost a week now in reports of trade talks between Washington and the Minnesota Twins, received a hearty cheer from the crowd of 35,414 when he came in to finish the contest. The 23-year-old, drafted by the Nats in 2009 and described by Rizzo on Saturday as “a core piece” of his team, made fans a little nervous after loading the bases with two outs before striking out former teammate Willie Harris to end it.
“It’s extremely flattering,” Storen said of interest from other teams. “I think it’s a really big compliment to have yourself in those trade rumors. But my loyalty lies here so I want to keep investing stuff here and hopefully we can turn this thing around.”
As for Maya, Rizzo said before the game that this was likely a spot start and he would be returned to Triple-A Syracuse afterwards. Instead, he may be headed for the disabled list. Maya reached base on a fielder’s choice in the bottom of the fifth inning, but felt a tug in his left oblique muscle trying to avoid a tag on the ensuing ground ball to second base. He complained about it to manager Davey Johnson in the dugout. But when Johnson went out to discuss the matter with home-plate umpire Jerry Meals, Maya and catcher Wilson Ramos insisted the pitcher was fine.
That wasn’t quite true. He still felt a pull when delivering his curve ball. After a line-drive out to left field in the top of the sixth inning and then consecutive hits by the Mets, Johnson turned to Detwiler. He immediately induced a ground-ball double play by Angel Pagan to end that frame. Three innings later Maya, at age 29 and less than two years after fleeing Cuba, his native country, had his first career win.
“I feel real good. That’s what I work for to go out there and give it all my best,” Maya said through assistant clubhouse attendant Javier Castro. “Thank God I got my first win. I’m very happy.”
New York managed just five hits off Maya, making his 10th career big-league start. Werth batted 2-for-3 and reached base three times. Wilson Ramos went 3-for-3. Michael Morse hit his 24th double of the season and later hit a 402-foot single off the base of the center-field wall. Mets starter R.A. Dickey lasted six innings, allowing three runs – all on Werth’s first-inning homer – six hits and two walks.
