David J. Phillip/AP -
HOUSTON – The gulf between their talent and their results in 2013, many of the men who run the Washington Nationals believed, rested in their inability to churn out one run when they absolutely, desperately needed it. They wanted to keep scoring in bunches when possible, but improve during the moments that call for a solitary, night-changing, season-shifting run. Tuesday night at Minute Maid Park, against the lowliest team in the American League, the Nationals needed one run.
In the Nationals’ 4-3 victory over the Houston Astros, Adam LaRoche delivered the game-tying double in the eighth and the go-ahead single in the ninth. But the prelude to LaRoche’s liner up the middle may have pleased Manager Matt Williams the most. In the ninth inning, the Nationals eschewed might and squeezed out the game-winner with equal parts plate discipline, opportunism and sacrifice.
Hours after Bryce Harper underwent thumb surgery likely to sideline him until July, the Nationals came back to avoid a loss against a foe that entered 9-17. Nationals starter Gio Gonzalez struck out nine and allowed five hits in six innings. Three of those hits came in succession, with two outs in the third inning, a spasm that cost him the lead and, ultimately, a chance at a win. Craig Stammen and Tyler Clippard each tossed scoreless innings, which set up Rafael Soriano for his fifth save and allowed the Nationals’ offense a chance to chip away.
The Nationals left the bases loaded in the eighth after they tied the game, and Denard Span led off the ninth inning. He drew a four-pitch walk against Josh Fields. Despite his speed, Span has never been a serious base stealer. Here, in a spot that everyone in the stadium knew called for a steal, Span studied Fields, got a jump and swiped second base.
Anthony Rendon, a Houston native with the red-clad cheering section to prove it, worked a 3-1 count against Fields. In an advantageous spot, he remained content in performing a task. He broke his bat hitting a groundball to the right side, which pushed Span to third with one out for the meat of the order.
Up came Jayson Werth, who had already homered and jolted three other baseballs. Werth cursed himself when he could not lift pitches out of the zone for sac flies, but he settled for a walk and left the inning to LaRoche.
“That’s really been my focus lately,” Werth said. “Get on base for Rochie.”
After his dismal 2013, LaRoche has been perhaps the Nationals’ best hitter this April. He has crushed the ball to every field. Against Fields, he roped an inside fastball up the middle and into center. Span trotted home with the run the Nationals needed.
“That was textbook,” LaRoche said. “We’ve done that a few times and got that guy on third and just haven’t got him in. We’ve taken care of the first couple parts of it. Nice to complete it there.”
An inning prior, LaRoche had tied the score. With Werth on first after a single, Houston Manager Bo Porter summoned left-hander Raul Valdes to face LaRoche. Last season, left-handers decimated LaRoche. This April, LaRoche has stung the ball against all pitchers. He drove a 2-1 pitch to deep center field, and Werth came all the way around to score.
In the first inning, Houston starter Jarred Cosart leaped ahead of Werth in the count, 0-2, and tried to finish him off with a curveball. But Cosart hung it, and Werth nearly blasted out of the stadium. He launched the ball over the left field wall, over the left field seats and clanging off a metal Halliburton advertisement. In Texas, if you hit a baseball far enough, chances are it will meet a Halliburton sign.
The Nationals struck again in the third inning in wholly different fashion. Leading off the inning, Kevin Frandsen stuck his elbow out at Cosart’s slow curve to give the Nationals a base runner. Werth used power; Frandsen employed guile and a sturdy elbow pad.
The next batter, Jose Lobaton, roped a double into the right field corner. Frandsen bolted from contact, and he circled the bases to give the Nationals a 2-0 lead. On April 18, Lobaton was hitting .171. Over the next days, he gave the Nationals every bit as much offensive punch as Wilson Ramos could have. The double gave him 11 hits, four of them for extra bases, in 26 at-bats.
In the midst of the Astros’ third-inning rally, Frandsen pulled off a remarkable play. Jason Castro ripped a fastball to left-center field. The ball hissed through the air, right at the strange portion of Minute Maid Park’s left field wall that forms a corner. Frandsen anticipated the ball would carom one way. Instead, it bounded the other.
As Frandsen turned to chase, he instinctively stuck his glove behind his back. Facing the infield, he somehow grabbed the ball. In one motion, as if he hadn’t surprised himself at all, Frandsen fired the ball back to the infield.
The miraculous “catch” saved a run, but only momentarily. Gonzalez hung a 2-2 change-up to George Springer, and both runs scored. After cruising for two innings, three straight two-out hits had given Gonzalez a 3-2 deficit.