WASHINGTON — The Washington Nationals will go for their third straight win over the Miami Marlins on Saturday night behind ace Max Scherzer.
After a team meeting on Wednesday [url=http://www.authenticsneworleanssaints.com]Saints Elite Jerseys[/url] , the Nationals (44-43) have posted back-to-back emotional victories over the Marlins (36-54). On Thursday, it was an historic comeback from a 9-0 deficit for a 14-12 win and Friday was a walk-off homer from pinch-hitter Mark Reynolds leading off the bottom of the ninth inning.
“We’re all human, so having a walk-off win everyone’s in a little better mood coming to the ballpark the next day, have a little more giddy up,” outfielder Adam Eaton said.
Nationals manager Dave Martinez admitted he was looking for someone to end Friday’s game with one swing.
“Thought about pinch-hitting Michael (A. Taylor). He gets on, he can steal, but then what?” Martinez said. “So I said, ‘Hey, we need somebody who can hit a home run right now and Mark is the perfect guy.'”
Reynolds’ homer on a 3-1 pitch off Kyle Barraclough erased the bad taste of Washington’s not scoring with the bases loaded and no outs in the eighth and rewarded the work of a bullpen that provided four scoreless innings.
The Marlins had all kinds of chances against Gio Gonzalez, who threw 114 pitches in five innings, but the Nationals turned three double plays and Gonzalez struck out Justin Bour and Garrett Cooper with the bases loaded in the fifth after walking in the tying run.
“I thought our offense did a pretty good job with Gio,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. “We just didn’t really capitalize.”
Scherzer (10-5, 2.16) is looking for his first win since June 5. A loser in four of his last five starts [url=http://www.authenticsnewyorkgiants.com]Giants Elite Jerseys[/url] , he has allowed only 10 earned runs while the Nationals have been shut out three times.
In a 4-3 loss to the Red Sox on Monday night, Scherzer’s only mistake came on a bases-loaded double by friend and former Detroit rotation mate Rick Porcello.
“That’s where you’ve got to be better, no matter what,” Scherzer told mlb.com. “You’ve got to execute pitches against everybody. Just because it’s a pitcher doesn’t mean you can ever let up. Not saying I did, but the onus, the focus is on every single pitch. You’ve got to execute.”
Scherzer went six innings and struck out nine to become the 11th pitcher in MLB history with at least 1,000 strikeouts with two clubs. He leads the National League with 174 strikeouts.
He’s 8-3 with a 3.39 ERA versus the Marlins in his career.
LHP Wei-Yin Chen (2-5, 5.55) starts for the Marlins and has a 9.85 ERA in seven road starts this season.
Chen’s last two outings have been very good. He hass thrown 12 innings — six each against the Tampa Bay Rays and Arizona Diamondbacks — and allowed one earned and eight hits while striking out 10 and walking one. He allowed one unearned run in no-decision against the Rays his last time out.
“I think it was the life on my fastball,” Chen told mlb.com, via his interpreter, on what was working against Tampa Bay. “Tonight, sometimes I didn’t get my fastball to an ideal location, but I was still able to jam them [url=http://www.authenticsnewyorkjets.com]Jets Elite Jerseys[/url] , get them to get weak contact.”
Against Washington, Chen is 1-5 with a 4.15 ERA in nine career appearances.
Shin-Soo Choo is a game away from matching the majors’ longest on-base streak this season only because the Texas Rangers couldn’t protect a late lead in a loss to the San Diego Padres.Choo singled with two outs in the ninth inning to reach base in his 39th straight game after Wil Myers and Hunter Renfroe hit run-scoring doubles as part of a three-run eighth that helped the Padres rally for a 3-2 win Tuesday night.
The Rangers led 2-0 when Choo struck out looking in the seventh to drop to 0 for 4. Instead of the streak ending in a win, though, Choo kept the Texas ninth alive with a liner over leaping shortstop Freddy Galvis before Brad Hand got Nomar Mazara to fly out with two runners on for his 22nd save.
”After fourth at-bat, strikeout, I wish we just finish the game,” said Choo, who is trying to match a 40-game streak by Philadelphia’s Odubel Herrera from March 30 to May 19. ”That’s a nice, clean game, 2-0. I’m not really expecting the fifth at-bat.”
Four of six San Diego hitters reached against Jake Diekman (1-1). After Myers ended the Texas shutout, Christian Villanueva lifted a tying sacrifice fly to left before Renfroe’s go-ahead liner down the line in left.
”We needed it a lot,” said Eric Hosmer, whose one-out single helped get the rally going after a leadoff walk to Travis Jankowski. ”Offensively [url=http://www.authenticsphiladelphiaeagles.com]Eagles Elite Jerseys[/url] , we haven’t been firing on all cylinders, so it was big to come from behind, kind of steal this one.”
Rougned Odor hit a solo homer for Texas in the second and Robinson Chirinos added one in the fourth against former teammate Tyson Ross.
San Diego relievers struck out five straight batters, starting with the second of two from Matt Strahm (2-2) in the seventh. Kirby Yates fanned the side in the eighth and Hand finished the Padres’ second win in 10 games. The Rangers lost just their second in the past 10.
Austin Bibens-Dirkx gave up two hits, struck out six and walked four in five innings in his fourth start for Texas. The right-hander is in a similar fill-in role from last season, when he made his major league debut as a 32-year-old following 12 years in the minors and won five games.
”Everyone before me did their job,” Diekman said. ”My job is to get it done and I didn’t do that. That stings really hard.”
Mazara had three hits a night after leaving early for precautionary reasons because of tightness in his left hamstring.
ROSS SOLID AGAIN
Ross had another solid start in a bounce-back season after posting a 7.71 ERA for Texas last year before his late-season release in his return from surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome. The right-hander gave up five hits in six innings. Ross leads San Diego starters with a 3.32 ERA.
KUDOS TO COLON
Texas right-hander Bartolo Colon was honored before the game for passing Juan Marichal for the most wins by a Dominican-born pitcher. The 45-year-old earned his 244th career win at Kansas City on the most recent road trip. Manager Jeff Banister presented him with a jersey with ”244” on the back, and a quote from Marichal was shown on the videoboard calling the milestone ”a special achievement for your career and your country.” Colon needs two wins to pass Dennis Martinez of Nicaragua for the most wins by a pitcher from Latin America.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Rangers: 1B Ronald Guzman was placed on the seven-day concussion disabled list a day after the rookie’s head struck the knee of Padres third baseman Christian Villanueva when Guzman was diving back on an attempted pickoff. … LHP Martin Perez struck out nine in five scoreless innings for Class A Hickory in his first rehab start Monday. Perez has been on the DL since May 10 with right elbow discomfort. Perez had arthroscopic surgery on that elbow in December. He broke a bone in a fall after being spooked by a bull on his ranch in Venezuela.
UP NEXT
LHP Clayton Richard (7-6, 4.23 ERA) is scheduled to pitch for the Padres in the finale of the three-game series. Richard is 6-2 during a streak of nine straight starts with at least six innings, the longest active streak for a lefty in the majors. Texas LHP Mike Minor (5-4, 5.06 ERA) hasn’t allowed a homer in his past two starts after giving up at least one in each of the previous seven.
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