Adams caps brilliant week with another big night in Nats' 8-5 win

SAN DIEGO - Matt Adams signed with the Nationals over the winter, understanding what would be expected of him from his new team. There wasn't a guaranteed starting job for the big slugger, only the promise that he'd get some starts at first base and in left field and a whole lot of pinch-hit appearances late in games against right-handed relievers.

There was, however, a reason general manager Mike Rizzo chose to give $4 million to Adams rather than picking up Adam Lind's $5 million option. If the Nationals needed someone to step in and play every day for a prolonged stretch, Adams seemed like the better choice.

And over the last week, that decision has paid off handsomely for the Nats.

With a pair of towering home runs tonight, Adams helped catapult the Nationals to an 8-5 victory over the Padres. And this was merely the continuation of a brilliant week for the big guy, who has now homered seven times in seven games, with 13 RBIs, six walks and a 1.825 OPS.

All of this while bouncing back and forth between first base and left field, filling in for the injured Ryan Zimmerman and Adam Eaton.

"Like I've said, I don't care what my role is," Adams said. "I'm happy to be a part of this team, and I'm playing every day, so I'm going to ride it out."

The Nationals are going to keep riding it out, and why not? Bryce Harper may still lead the club with 12 homers and 28 RBIs, but Adams is fast catching up to his teammate, now ranking second on the team with 10 homers and 23 RBIs despite 72 fewer plate appearances.

"He's really, really good right now," manager Davey Martinez said. "He's having fun. He loves it here, and he's having fun and it shows on the field. He's going to keep it going. I know he is, because he's doing all the right things."

Adams is doing all the right things, not only at the plate but (shockingly to most) in the field, as well. As if he hadn't produced enough highlights this week with his bat, he has now produced two with his glove. On Friday night, he robbed the Phillies' Maikel Franco of a home run in left field. Tonight, he robbed Chase Headley of a sure double with a diving stop of a shot down the first base line, then hopped to his feet, sprinted to first and slid into the bag in time to complete the play.

So what, then, does Adams believe is his biggest highlight of the week?

"Probably robbing a homer," he said. "I came into the year not expecting to rob a homer. I knew I'd get some homers and make some plays over there (at first base) for our pitchers. But making a good play in the outfield like that to take a homer away ... that's gotta be the highlight for sure."

Adams' two homers tonight highlighted a late offensive explosion by the Nationals lineup and overshadowed what had been a nip-and-tuck game for five innings. The Nats jumped out to a 1-0 lead when Trea Turner launched a pitch from Tyson Ross into the bullpen in left-center, the former Padres prospect's first career homer at Petco Park.

Aided by a double play and two runners caught trying to steal second by Matt Wieters (who has now thrown out eight of 14 this season), Stephen Strasburg made it through his first five innings with only one run across the plate and 77 pitches to his name in his fourth career start in his hometown.

"I've been in D.C. for a while, so D.C.'s home now," he said. "But it's good to come back and see a lot of family."

Strasburg faded a bit the deeper he went into the game, allowing a leadoff triple in the sixth and a leadoff double in the seventh each to produce a run. But by that point, he was working with a sizeable lead thanks to an onslaught of big hits by his teammates.

Held in check the first two times they faced Ross, the Nationals were more than ready for the right-hander the third time through the lineup. Their top six batters all either hit the ball hard for an out (Harper, via a 106 mph scorcher to second base), walked (Turner) or found paydirt with clutch hits.

Anthony Rendon's double off the left field wall (exit velocity: 110 mph) brought home Turner. Adams' first homer of the evening (a moonshot down the right field line) brought two runs home. And then Wieters' single following Howie Kendrick's double tacked on another run to give the visitors a 5-1 lead.

One inning later, with left-hander Matt Strahm on the mound for San Diego, Adams delivered the final blow: a three-run homer to right-center to put this game out of reach and cap a brilliant week for the Nationals slugger.

With Zimmerman expecting to return Tuesday from a sore right side, and left-hander Clayton Richard scheduled to start for the Padres, Adams would seem to be due for a night off. Can Martinez, though, really afford to sit the hottest hitter in the league right now, no matter the matchup?

"I'll look at the numbers," the manager said. "But here again, he's played a lot. He didn't assume he'd play this much, but he's doing well. I definitely don't want to overkill him and play him every day, but we'll see. He's swinging the bat well, so we'll see how he matches up against those next two games and definitely play him against one of them.

"Or maybe both."