Nats 4, Pittsburgh Pirates 2
Nothing like a series sweep to send a team off on a road trip in a chipper mood. After a solid win over the Pirates on Thursday night, the music was thumping in the locker room as the Nats packed their bags, put on their sport coats and boarded a bus for the airport. Cleveland and Detroit are up next with rookie Stephen Strasburg getting his second start on Sunday afternoon. As of now Washington is 30-31 and has a good chance to get back to .500 against an Indians team that is mired in last place in the A.L. Central with a 23-36 record. Last year at this time? How about a miserable 17-44. It’s night and day in 2010.
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Sounds a lot like the Pirates, who managed just nine runs in three games at Nationals Park. They had a chance to take the lead in the top of the sixth against Livan Hernandez, but with two runs in and runners at first and second and one out the crafty veteran managed to escape without further damage. Read all the particulars in our game story here.
Hernandez lamented that it had been “a month and five days” since his last win. But then he thought back to last season when he started 5-1 for the Mets and had a 3.88 ERA. He beat the Nats on June 7 – seven shutout innings – and it was six weeks before he won again. Shocker, that next win also came against Washington with seven innings of two-run ball. But by then his ERA was an alarming 4.93. Less than a month later New York cut ties with Hernandez, who took 10 days off and then joined back up with the Nats for the final six weeks of the 2009 season. Actually, Hernandez had gone 37 days between wins this year – but whose counting. We all know they don’t really matter. And that 2.28 ERA looks awfully nice at this point anyway.
So Hernandez admitted he’s still happy with how he’s pitching. Over his last 18 1/3 innings since a mediocre start in San Francisco on May 25, Hernandez has allowed just six earned runs on 21 hits and six walks. He only has 10 strikeouts in that stretch, but that’s just not his game at this point. Teams are going to put the ball in play against him.
Adam Dunn, Josh Willingham and Mike Morse all contributed solo homers to the effort on Thursday. It was a relief for Morse, who started for just the fourth time all season and made a base-running mistake in the sixth inning to kill a rally. There just isn’t a consistent spot for the 6-foot-5, 230-pound slugger. He has to make due with whatever opportunities he gets.
“I just don’t have a spot to put [Morse] out there every day. If it works out to be that that’s the way it’ll be,” said Nats manager Jim Riggleman. “But we want to give [Roger] Bernadina a chance in right field, Willingham is a lock in left field. So it’s just tough to put Mike anywhere but right field right now. And Bernie is holding that spot down against right-handed pitching.”
Morse’s home run was his first of the season. He missed time on the disabled list in April after making the squad out of spring training. That meant the Nats had limited power off the bench. It is a role Morse knows he can fill – even if regular playing time isn’t in the cards.
“Not at all,” Morse said when asked if that lack of playing time is frustrating. “I could pretty much see the situation here. Where I might get an opportunity to play – if it’s a lefty pitching or my pinch-hit opportunities – then that’s my role on the team. I’m happy with it. And I’m going to try to do the best I can.”
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