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HOUSTON — They stood behind the Washington Nationals’ dugout, wearing red T-shirts and white jerseys with No. 6 on the back, making more noise than the rest of Minute Maid Park combined. Others watched from the left field corner; two of them unfurled a sign that read, “GO ANTHONY #6!!” They hollered for Anthony Rendon, their friend, or their cousin, or, in the case of Rene Rendon, the man who organized the raucous cluster, their son.
They had been boisterous even before the Nationals’ 7-0 romp over the Houston Astros, which gave Jordan Zimmermann his 45th career win, making him the team’s all-time winningest pitcher. They had cheered even before Rendon showed off the swing they had all seen before — hitting pinecones as kid in the Southwest section of Houston, honing his stroke with Astro-turned-coach Willie Ansley, winning national awards at Rice.
To end his first trip home as a major leaguer, Rendon went 4 for 5 with a home run, two doubles and three RBI. Along with Zimmermann’s 61/ 3 scoreless innings, Rendon lifted the Nationals’ depleted-yet-destructive lineup to a two-game series sweep. A couple hundred family members, friends and former teammates watched from the stands.
Rendon gave them a performance representative of the damage his swing can do. He’s not one type of hitter; he’s every type of hitter. His piston-quick wrists allow him to let a pitch travel longer than most hitters. Manager Matt Williams sometimes assumes Rendon is taking a pitch, only for him to swing and whack a line drive somewhere.
In his first at-bat, Rendon drilled a Brett Oberholtzer 3-2 fastball off the right-field fence. In his second, he lined a 1-2 knuckle curve to right for a single. In his third, he pulled a 1-2 fastball into the left-field corner for a two-run double. Finally, he blasted Paul Clemens’s 2-1 change-up over the wall in right field.
When they dust settled, Rendon had raised his average to .316, hit his fourth home run and pushed his team-leading RBI total to 20. Through his team’s attrition and his own excellence, Rendon, the sixth pick of the 2011 draft, has become one of the most crucial Nationals in his first full season.
In one month, enough time passed and injuries happened for the Nationals’ opening day lineup to morph into the post-nuclear lineup they employed Wednesday night. Scroll down the latest order, and it took just five spots to hit Tyler Moore, the first player who started the year in Class AAA Syracuse. Two others loomed below. Only two of the Nationals’ top six hitters on opening day remained.
With their depleted lineup, the Nationals produced their finest performance. It happened against the Astros, who are a still kind of special mess. But still, without Ryan Zimmerman, Wilson Ramos, Bryce Harper and Adam LaRoche, who had the night off to rest a balky quad, the Nationals mashed 13 hits and committed no errors.
Zimmermann would have been good enough for any lineup to win. He scattered seven hits, all singles, struck out seven, walked one and barely broke a sweat. It was a vintage performance fit for a milestone night. With the 45th win of his career, Zimmermann passed Livan Hernandez for most since baseball returned to D.C. in 2005.
The Nationals’ depleted lineup pulverized the ball and capitalized on the Astros’ charitable defense, starting in the third inning. Span shot a laser beam to right-center field. Had second baseman Jose Altuve been more fortunately positioned, the ball would have been low enough to catch. Instead, Span’s liner skipped all the way to the gap.
Right fielder George Springer slid to stop the ball from reaching Tal’s Hill, the knoll abutting the center field fence some 430 feet from the plate. But when Springer stood, he couldn’t corral the ball. He tried to pick it up again, only to drop it again. Meanwhile, Span chugged around the bases. He slowed into third base, only for third base coach Bobby Henley to wave him home.
Span scored standing up, without a throw. The scorer credited him with a triple and hung an error on the right fielder — a Little League-style home run.
Kevin Frandsen has provided the Nationals a shock of energy in Harper’s absence. He led off the fourth inning with bullet of a single to center field. With one out, Sandy Leon shot another single up the middle. Frandsen churned around second base without bothering to look up and steamed into third. He beat Dexter Fowler’s wayward throw, and Leon wandered off first. Matt Dominguez fired across the diamond, and first baseman Jesus Guzman closed his mitt too soon. The ball squirted away, and Frandsen hustled home. One extra base had turned into two, and the Nationals took a 2-0 lead.
Rendon would break the game open with his two-run double, and the segment of Minute Maid Park that had come to see him erupted. His night nearly turned from preposterous into a dream — in his last at-bat, he launched a ball to the warning track in left. He would have to settle for merely his best game as a big leaguer in the place he grew up.