Nationals pounce on Diamondbacks, start road trip with a bang
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Version 0 of 1. PHOENIX — This is what a streaking team looks like: a four-run lead five batters into the game, the opponent’s starting pitcher knocked out after four outs, a 10-run lead after two innings and the opposing team’s best hitter removed in the fourth as a white flag. The Washington Nationals looked every bit like a white hot juggernaut Monday night against the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Nationals clobbered the Diamondbacks, 11-1, behind an offensive eruption that produced 15 hits, led by Yunel Escobar’s five-hit night, his second in a week. Ryan Zimmerman’s long three-run shot in the first inning gave Nationals starter Max Scherzer plenty of breathing room to fire seven strong innings. Wilson Ramos’s bases-clearing double in the second inning capped a six-run onslaught that put the game far out of reach. “The team has woken up,” Escobar said. “I always had confidence in us and that this is a hitting team. Pitchers haven’t lasted against us. Any pitcher has to contend with this lineup.” The Nationals have won 11 of their past 13 games. Since a 7-13 start to the season, they have played more like the talented team they were designed to be. During this hot streak, the Nationals have scored 83 runs, nearly 6.4 runs a game. Their pitching staff has allowed only 39 earned runs in the span, three runs a game. “I think it started in Atlanta in that come-from-behind win,” Denard Span said. “We’ve just carried that momentum since that game. We’ve been finding ways to win. We’ve been having good pitching, timely hitting and we’ve been playing better defense as well. Not as many errors. Usually when you do that stuff, you go on long streaks like the one we have.” The Nationals have also made a significant dent in their early-season division hole. Two weeks ago, they sat at the bottom of the National League East and trailed the first-place New York Mets by eight games. Since then, the Nationals have jumped to second place and sit only 2½ games behind the Mets. “We have a good thing going. It keeps you hungry,” Scherzer said. “You know you can come to the park and win. We’ve been winning series and that’s the most important part.” The Nationals continued their streak with an all-around team performance against the Diamondbacks, a rebuilding club that has performed better than expected to start the season. But they were no match for the Nationals on this night. Two pitches into the game, Denard Span crushed a Josh Collmenter pitch into the right-field seats for a solo shot, a preview of what was about to come. “That gets the team going,” Span said. Added Ramos: “When you see the leadoff guy hit a homer, you say something special is coming.” Escobar singled and Jayson Werth drew a walk. Bryce Harper, on a torrid hitting pace himself, hit a ball to deep right field that Ender Inciarte caught at the 335-foot sign, missing a home run by a few feet. A batter later, Zimmerman didn’t miss. His towering shot to deep left-center field put the Nationals ahead 4-0. The second inning was even more productive for the Nationals. Collmenter gave up four singles in a row. After Werth’s sacrifice fly and Harper’s single to cap an eight-pitch at-bat, Collmenter was pulled from the game. Although his replacement, Vidal Nuno, eventually stemmed the tide over the next several innings, Ramos managed a double with the bases loaded that extended his hit streak to 14 games and put the Nationals up 10-0. It was so miserable for the Diamondbacks at Chase Field in the opening game of a three-game set that a near-silent crowd erupted with cheers and applause when Nuno struck out Ian Desmond for the second out of the fourth inning. Diamondbacks Manager Chip Hale pulled his team’s best hitter, Paul Goldschmidt, in the fourth not because of any apparent injury but because the game was already lost. The Nationals’ offensive onslaught was so complete in their most lopsided victory of the season that even Scherzer contributed. He smacked an infield single in the second inning and scored a run on a sacrifice fly by Werth. He also drilled a single up the middle in the fifth inning. On the mound, Scherzer was terrific. A Diamondbacks’ 2006 first-round pick and Scottsdale, Ariz., resident who hadn’t pitched at Chase Field since 2009, Scherzer mowed through the potent Diamondbacks lineup with ease even with a large lead. “You can’t pitch to the scoreboard,” he said. “You’ve got to treat it like a 0-0 game. The old tale is give them fastballs because you’re just trying to get through the lineup. But it’s actually no. You’ve got to still pitch.” Scherzer got hit in his left hamstring by a grounder in the first inning but it had no effect on his pitching. He gave up his first hit in the fifth inning. He allowed his only run in the sixth, a solo home run by Jordan Pacheco, who replaced Goldschmidt. Scherzer’s lone walk of the game, in the seventh, was his first in 20 innings. The constant turning over of the Nationals lineup gave Escobar a chance at history. Before last week, he had never had a five-hit game in his career. And now, he has two — the only National in history to achieve the feat twice in a single season. By the seventh inning, he already had his fifth hit. Escobar didn’t get a chance to bat again, missing a chance at a six-hit game, but that was fine with him. “My timing was perfect,” he said. “I didn’t want to try to do too much.” |