Bell, Lowe power Nats to first win of season (updated)

Josh Bell and Nathaniel Lowe have understood the assignment from the moment the Nationals acquired them. Yes, they were brought here to do multiple things, but the most important thing was to hit the ball in the air with authority.

It took a few days and more than a few swings to get there, but the big boys in the middle of the lineup got there this afternoon. Behind Bell’s three-run homer and Lowe’s two-run blast, the Nats coasted to a 5-1 victory over the Phillies, avoiding a demoralizing weekend sweep.

Thanks to 6 1/3 scoreless innings from Mitchell Parker and some much-needed, lockdown work from a beleaguered bullpen, the Nationals emerged from their season-opening weekend with one win, boosting clubhouse spirits as they prepare to head north of the border for this week’s interleague series in Toronto.

"It's promising, because we were in position to win all three games against a perennial contender," Lowe said. "We just need to execute, take that as a reminder going forward and have a good series in Toronto."

Parker joined MacKenzie Gore and Jake Irvin in holding down the Phillies lineup for five-plus innings. Bell and Lowe supplied the offensive fireworks to give their team the lead for the third straight game. And unlike the previous two, the Nats bullpen this time finished the job.

It got a little dicey in the seventh and again in the ninth, though. Jose A. Ferrer replaced Parker with two on and one out in the seventh and promptly plunked Kyle Schwarber to load the bases. But Ferrer dug deep and got Alec Bohm to ground into a 5-4-3 double play, much to the delight of the crowd of 28,075.

Jorge López authored a quick, five-pitch top of the eighth in his season debut. But Brad Lord, making his major league debut in the ninth, loaded the bases without recording an out, forcing Davey Martinez to summon Kyle Finnegan from the bullpen. Finnegan would allow one inherited runner to score but never really made anyone sweat and wound up credited with his first save.

"I know I put Lord in the game, because I kind of wanted to get him out there," Martinez said. "He's going to be fine."

If there’s one thing the Nationals didn’t have to fret about this weekend, it was their rotation. Gore dominated Opening Day, striking out 13 over six scoreless innings. Irvin was solid Saturday, gutting out five innings of two-run ball. And they liked their chances in today’s finale with Parker on the mound, specifically bumping the team’s No. 5 start up to the third game to get a favorable matchup against the left-handed-heavy Phillies lineup.

Like Irvin, Parker dealt with traffic on the bases but still managed to succeed. And like Gore, he kept the Phillies off the scoreboard altogether while maintaining efficiency.

Parker actually had to deal with multiple baserunners in each of his first three innings. In each case, he made a clutch pitch to escape unscathed, striking out Bryson Stott with a fastball in the first, inducing a 5-4-3 double play out of Rafael Marchán in the second and then getting Stott to ground out to end the third.

"It's a huge confidence boost," Parker said. "Like you said, a lot of traffic on the bases. But the theme last year was limit the damage, and try not to let things snowball. I feel like we did a pretty good job of that today."

Parker went on a nice run after that, retiring nine batters in a row, capping with a strikeout of Edmundo Sosa on his 83rd pitch of the afternoon to end the sixth. And because his pitch count was still relatively low, Parker got the opportunity to retake the mound for the seventh, recording one more out before handing the ball to Ferrer with a couple runners on base.

"He got up to 93, and I thought that was good," Martinez said. "He looked good today. Everything was very effective: His fastball, his split, his slider was really good."

Like Gore, Parker departed in line for the win thanks to a lead supplied by his teammates. A couple of big teammates, in this case.

It had been a rough opening two days for Bell, the former Nationals slugger who returned to town this winter on a $6 million deal with explicit instructions to focus less on contact and more on power. Bell struggled through the spring, hitting one homer, striking out 19 times and batting just .130. And he went 0-for-9 to begin the regular season, taking some awkward swings along the way.

As anyone who has watched him before knows, though, Bell has a tendency to flip the switch with one big swing and turn red-hot for weeks. We’ll have to see if that holds true in this case, but there’s no doubt his no-doubt, three-run homer off Aaron Nola in the bottom of the fourth represented the kind of swing he’s been searching for since February.

"That's why we're here," Bell said. "I know it was kind of frustrating the first couple days. But I was talking to (Paul) DeJong about it, and I was like: 'Man, I'm 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position.' And he's like: 'Dude, it's Game 3. Calm down.'"

Lowe had already gotten his bat going late during Saturday’s blowout loss, homering in the bottom of the eighth. Today’s two-run shot in the sixth was far more meaningful, traveling 423 feet to straightaway center field and knocking Nola out of the game.

"That was special," Lowe said. "It's no secret the (Phillies) starters have been dominating the first two games. So to get one off the starter and have success was pretty nice."

Lowe would finish with three hits, falling a triple shy of the cycle. Bell would finish 1-for-4, but that one was the one the Nationals wanted.

Now they just have to hope to get more of them in the days and weeks to come.

"Our best team is a team that has me slugging," Bell said. "I'm going to try to sell out for it this summer, and we'll see what happens."