Spot-starter Tommy Milone bent but didn’t break after he gave up 3-runs in the 1st inning, and his defense and offense backed him up to win this 10-3 behind a Trea Turner powered offense. The Nationals scored 10 unanswered runs to win this in a laugher. The Nationals pitching shutout the Marlins from inning 2-to-9 while the Nationals offense had 13-hits, 9 walks and a hit-by-pitch.
“It was a really good comeback win,” manager Dave Martinez said. “We have to continue doing what we’re doing.”
Martinez made some key managerial decisions that worked well including piecing together a depleted line-up who have hit starting pitcher Dan Straily well. It included a few more righties which looked odd but it worked. The Nationals manager also yanked Milone at the end of the 5th inning in a 3-3 tie, and the Nats bullpen threw a 4-inning shutout. The only questionable move with a 3-run lead was sticking with Matt Wieters with bases loaded instead of going to Matt Adams for a pinch-hit kill-shot. It worked out in the end as Wieters batted 3-times with bases loaded and finally got a hit in the 9th inning with bases loaded. Wieters left 7-men on-base, but on this day the Nats had enough offense to sweep missed opportunities under the rug.
The Nationals first inning started off poorly on offense with 2-on and no outs, and the inning ended on a pick-off of Adam Eaton at 2nd base. Milone then struggled and gave up 3-runs in the bottom of the 1st inning, but after that Milone made his pitches and the Nationals offense got in gear for the Nationals as they won their second game in a row.
“I just want to be more consistent,” Trea Turner said. “I came to the ballpark today and tried to work on some things and I kind of brought it in the game, and it worked out well.”
Turner had been in a mini-slump that started on July 8th when the All-Star rosters were announced and until today Turner was mired in that 5-48 funk. Today helps, and Trea played well in his home state of Florida going 3-6 and a double short of the cycle. His 426 foot home run to dent the centerfield “thingie” broke up the shutout and got the Nationals in gear.
The other offensive star was the teenager, Juan Soto, who had a home run, single and two intentional walks to join some new teenage clubs including the top of the leaderboards of teenage icons who have hit at least a dozen home runs as a teenager.
Here are the teenage home run leaders:
Tony Conigliaro – 24 Bryce Harper – 22 Mel Ott – 19 Phil Cavarretta – 18 Ken Griffey Jr.– 16 Mickey Mantle – 13 Ed Kranepool – 12 Juan Soto – 12
With this win, the Nationals improved to .500 on the season at 51-51.
