Photo by Owen Ranger for TalkNats
As a longtime DC sports maniac, I’m just on cloud nine right now. I just got to witness the Washington Commanders football team take down a division opponent, and then the Washington Nationals pulled a miracle comeback in the ninth inning to win a road series against a contender. All seemed lost when the Cubs’ flame-throwing closer Daniel Palenica entered the game, until Robert Hassell III and Josh Bell went yard to give the Nationals an improbable lead, and three outs later, it was a tremendous victory.
The scoring got underway in the top of the second inning against Andrew Alvarez, as Carson Kelly hit the first of his two homers on the day to put Chicago ahead 1-0. The Cubs mounted a rally later in the inning with two straight walks, but Alvarez was able to eliminate the threat without any further damage.
The 1-0 score held firm until the fifth inning, as the Nationals were doing very little against Colin Rea, who entered in the second inning after the Cubs used a lefty to handle the Nats’ left handed hitters in the first inning. Brady House tied the game up in the top of the fifth with a sacrifice fly, interestingly enough he would have two of those by the time this one finished.
Unfortunately, the tie did not hold long, Clayton Beeter entered to replace Alvarez with two outs in the bottom of the fifth, and instantly surrendered an RBI single to Seiya Suzuki, putting the Cubs in front 2-1.
- Andrew Alvarez: 4.2 innings, 3 hits, 2 runs (2 earned), 3 walks, 2 strikeouts, 87 pitches
- Colin Rea: 5.1 innings, 3 hits, 1 run (1 earned), 0 walks, 6 strikeouts, 61 pitches
Both pitching staffs buckled down through the middle to late innings, holding the score at 2-1 until the bottom of the eighth. That’s when Carson Kelly struck again off of Mason Thompson. Kelly blasted his second solo homer of the game to double the lead and put Chicago ahead 3-1, a lead that I thought was more than safe given how lethargic the Nats’ offense had played to that point.
After the game, it was discovered that Daniel Palencia was being evaluated for an injury, and that could certainly explain his performance yesterday. Hassell led off the ninth inning with a solo homer to left center to make it a one run game. CJ Abrams followed with a single, then a James Wood walk put the go-ahead run on base with nobody out. Miguel Cairo stepped up and made one of his best managerial decisions of his tenure here, pinch hitting Bell for Riley Adams. Bell wasted no time, taking the first pitch he saw off the bench, a 97 mile per hour fastball and walloping it over the center field fence to make it a 5-3 Nats lead. Daylen Lile followed that with his third triple of the weekend. He’s slowly becoming one of my favorite guys on the team. House contributed his second sacrifice fly to make it 6-3 before the inning came to a close.
Jose A. Ferrer got the call to come in for the bottom of the ninth, and though he allowed two base runners, he got Suzuki to ground out to finish off the game and give him his seventh save of the season. In a more impressive note, he hasn’t allowed a run since August 3rd, that’s over a month now as the Nats’ closer. He’s lowered his ERA under four to a 3.91, and is blossoming into the closer we always hoped he could be.
Positives from yesterday right off the bat are Hassell and Bell for their heroics, but it was another good day from the Nats’ bullpen. Jackson Rutledge, and Ferrer had scoreless outings in this one to help the Nats stick around. For Rutledge, this was his tenth consecutive scoreless appearance, he has not allowed a run since August 19th. This is a huge sign for him and the Nats as it was beginning to look like he may be a failed venture. A 5.37 ERA obviously isn’t anything to write home about but he’s doing a lot better than he was a month ago, and if he keeps it up we could see that ERA drop below five. Offensively, Daylen Lile was the biggest contributor this afternoon, turning in the Nats’ only two-hit game of the day.
The Nats flew to Miami last night where they will begin the final series against the fish tonight at 6:40. Cade Cavalli (2-1, 4.85 ERA) will get the ball for the Nationals against Janson Junk (6-2, 4.09 ERA), a veteran right-hander who’s been a pleasant surprise for the Marlins this season.
