Nats break through with late rally for chilly win over Twins (updated)

MINNEAPOLIS - Combine the coldest lineup in the majors with the coldest gametime temperature in club history, and it could not have taken anyone by surprise to see nothing but zeroes on the scoreboard for six innings tonight at Target Field.

Did you really expect these Nationals to get hot on a 37-degree April night in the Great White North?

Well, actually, yeah. It just took a while to finally happen.

But once it did, once Joey Meneses launched his first homer of the season in the seventh, and once Lane Thomas and Keibert Ruiz delivered back-to-back two-out RBI singles in the eighth, everything was OK again for the Nationals, who exchanged high-fives and handshakes on the field and then quickly bolted for the heated clubhouse to further celebrate a much-needed, 3-2 victory over the Twins.

"We were huddled under our one little heater we've got out there (in the bullpen)," closer Kyle Finnegan said. "Taking the lead there definitely gets us going. You start moving around, get the juices flowing a little bit. It's exciting. Take the lead late in a game and then shut it down to get the win? You've got to enjoy a win like that."

On the heels of back-to-back shutout losses to the Orioles, the Nats extended their streak of scoreless offensive futility to 24 innings, managing a grand total of two singles off Minnesota starter Tyler Mahle through six innings.

But then Meneses connected for his long-awaited first homer of the year, driving a Mahle fastball 409 feet to left-center to finally get himself and his team on the board.

"As much as you don't want to think about something like that, it definitely crosses your mind," Meneses said, via interpreter Octavio Martinez, of his homer-less April after he blasted 13 of them in the first 56 games of his major league career last season. "I try to stay focused and just make sure I made hard contact. That's all I can do. But I'm not going to say I wasn't thinking about it, because you definitely think about getting your first home run."

Trailing now by one run in the eighth, the Nationals went back to manufacturing offense to tie the game and take the lead in succession. With two outs and nobody on, they got a hustle double from CJ Abrams to turn the lineup over and bring Thomas to the plate for the team’s first plate appearance of the game with a runner in scoring position.

Thomas promptly singled to left to score Abrams, and when Trevor Larnach’s throw sailed toward the first base dugout, he took off for second and put himself in scoring position. That proved oh so critical, because Ruiz’s single to left was all it took to bring Thomas home and give the Nationals their first lead since Sunday against the Guardians.

"I feel like we've been playing good, a lot of close games," Ruiz said. "We just have to not give up and keep working hard." 

Scoreless relief from Erasmo Ramirez, Hunter Harvey (who struck out the side in the eighth) and Kyle Finnegan (who put the first two batters on in the ninth but escaped the jam with a game-ending double play) then sealed the deal and ensured Trevor Williams’ quality start wouldn’t go to waste.

"Look, we played well," manager Davey Martinez said. "I'm proud of the guys. We didn't give up. We went out there and played good defense again, which is awesome. Good victory for us."

Given the state of things at the plate, Nationals pitchers have zero margin for error these days. And the same applies to everyone in the field. All it took tonight was a series of mistakes by Williams and his defense in the bottom of the third tonight to give the Twins a 2-0 lead.

The inning began with an 89-mph fastball from Williams over the heart of the plate to Joey Gallo, the all-or-nothing slugger who got all of this one. Gallo drove the ball 112.6 mph off his bat and directly into the right field bleachers for his fifth homer of the young season.

That should’ve been all the Twins got in the inning, but Ryan Jeffers’ subsequent lazy fly ball to right-center somehow fell right between Victor Robles and Thomas, the latest in a recent string of miscommunications between the two usually sure-handed outfielders.

This gift double proved especially costly, because after a sacrifice bunt by former Nationals postseason hero Michael A. Taylor, Jeffers was in position to try to score on Max Kepler’s fly ball to right. That fly ball wasn’t hit particularly well; it was caught by Thomas only 252 feet from the plate. But what should’ve been a relatively routine throw to the plate instead was well up the third base line, and that allowed Jeffers to score Minnesota’s second run of the inning.

Williams was charged with both runs, even though the second was hardly his fault. Nevertheless, the right-hander completely shut down the Twins lineup after that and wound up delivering the best of his four starts to date.

Not that any of them has been particularly bad. Williams has gone at least five innings each time and allowed three or fewer earned runs each time. He now owns a 3.38 ERA and 1.078 WHIP, and even though he’s emerged with only one win through all that, the right-hander has been exactly who the Nationals hoped he’d be when they signed him in December.

"I've watched him over the years, and he's done awesome," Martinez said. "He keeps you in the ballgame. That's what we expect of him. He goes out there and he competes."