Washington struck late against San Diego ace Michael King in a 9-4 win.
The Washington Nationals played a patient game Saturday. For six innings, they waited out San Diego Padres ace Michael King, and in the seventh, they finally pounced.
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It wasn’t flashy. Only two balls left the infield as a combination of singles, walks, hit batters and fielder’s choices put six runs across. The Nationals ran hard, put their bodies on the line by sliding headfirst and kept the line moving en route to a 9-4 victory. If they take the rubber match Sunday, it will be the sixth series in a row they have won or split.
“When it rains, it pours with our offense,” catcher Drew Millas said. “It’s contagious. We did a great job of that tonight.”
Washington Manager Blake Butera knew King would be tough to crack. He saw it firsthand when they were teammates at Boston College in 2014 and 2015. Even back then, Butera had a feeling King’s talent and athleticism would allow him to go far in the sport.
And King showed just why in the first five innings, needing just 47 pitches to get the first 15 outs. His only blemish was in the third inning, when Millas hit a solo home run.
“He’s a really good pitcher in this game for a reason,” Butera said. “I thought he did a really good job mixing speeds, throwing strikes. It was just hard to get into a rhythm against him.”
Meanwhile, Nationals starter Foster Griffin allowed three homers in five innings. In the second inning, Xander Bogaerts sent a cutter 417 feet into center field. Two innings later, Manny Machado crushed a sweeper off the netting on the left field foul pole. And in the fifth, Fernando Tatis Jr. finally hit his first home run of the season, a 451-foot no-doubter that landed deep in the seats behind left field. He threw his arms up as soon as he made contact.
But that was all the damage San Diego would do against Griffin, who scattered two other hits and three walks. The left-hander used two double plays and five strikeouts to keep the Padres in check.
“I wouldn’t say I had my best stuff, but I competed, tried to get through five and keep the team in it,” Griffin said.
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King started to crack in the sixth, with Nasim Nuñez and Luis García Jr. lining singles. The next inning, the real crusade began. CJ Abrams led off with a single, then José Tena reached safely after Tatis made a diving snag on his grounder but couldn’t make an accurate throw to second. Jorbit Vivas walked to load the bases, and King drilled Dylan Crews’s hand on the first pitch to bring in a run.
That was the end of the line for King, who gave way to Bradgley Rodriguez. Millas hit a tailor-made double-play ball to Tatis, who threw to Bogaerts, but the shortstop didn’t touch the bag in time, and Crews collided with him to prevent a relay to first. Tena scored to tie the game, and the Nationals had no outs when they could have had two. San Diego Manager Craig Stammen, who pitched seven seasons for Washington, received his first career ejection for arguing after an unsuccessful challenge.
Once play resumed, pinch hitter Curtis Mead then walked, sending in another run to take a 4-3 lead, and García brought two more runs in on a single. Daylen Lile ended the scoring spree by beating out another potential double-play ball to make it 7-3.
“We put together a bunch of good at-bats and ran the bases really well. We have a lot of confidence in this group,” Millas said. “It’s very contagious when somebody gets going, and this group just feeds off one another, and we did that today.”
After Brad Lord pitched two scoreless innings in relief of Griffin, Gus Varland got two quick outs in the eighth before the next four Padres reached. Clayton Beeter got Ty France to ground out to leave the bases loaded, and the Nationals added two more runs in the bottom of the eighth off a Mead double before Beeter closed it out.
It was another scrappy, come-from-behind win, showcasing just what this team thinks it’s capable of accomplishing this season.
“Our guys played for each other and played hard,” Butera said. “They’re not doing it for themselves, they’re doing it for the team. And I think when you talk about the identity and the culture we are trying to build here, hopefully fans enjoy watching that baseball because whether we win or lose, they’re giving it everything they have to help us win that game.”
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