Nats finally convert in extras, topple Angels (updated)

The Nationals already have enough trouble scoring runs and hitting for power when at full strength. Remove their All-Star leadoff hitter from the equation, and the task can feel impossible.

So, when word came down about an hour before first pitch tonight that CJ Abrams had been scratched because of back spasms, even the most optimistic Nats fan had to be concerned this could turn into a long night at the plate.

It was. Until the home team made it worth the wait with a late rally and a rare extra-inning win.

Alex Call’s line drive single just past drawn-in second baseman Luis Guillorme brought Jacob Young home from third and gave the Nationals a rousing, 3-2 victory in 10 innings to avenge Thursday’s 10-inning loss to the Giants.

"The boys wanted it," manager Davey Martinez said. "They wanted it tonight. You could tell. They didn't want another extra innings and not win. They wanted to celebrate."

Stymied for seven innings by an Angels pitching staff that surrendered only four hits (three of them infield singles) and one walk, the Nationals finally broke through late.

Down 2-1 in the eighth, they got a one-out single from Call, then a base hit to left-center by Luis García Jr. off left-hander José Quijada. With the play right in front of him, Call made the turn around second, a risky maneuver but ultimately a successful one when he slid in safely just ahead of the tag. And that proved critical, because it allowed Call to score the tying run on Juan Yepez’s sacrifice fly to center.

"That's a tough play (for a left fielder), to go away from your body, field it, come back and throw it back to third base," Call said. "You've got to put pressure on. I was thinking third base as soon as it was hit."

Kyle Finnegan bounced back from a disastrous top of the ninth during Thursday’s loss to the Giants with a perfect frame of relief. But when his teammates couldn’t get the winning run home in the bottom of the inning, Finnegan went back to the mound for the 10th, having already thrown 40 total pitches the previous 28 hours. He proceeded to record one of his biggest outs of the season, striking out former Nationals star Anthony Rendon with a 3-2 fastball to strand the go-ahead runner on third and give his teammates yet another chance to walk it off.

"I felt like I did a good job of trusting the plan," Finnegan said. "Not just trying to throw a strike because it was a 3-2 count, but throwing a quality strike, something we could get a swing on." 

With the speedy Jacob Young serving as the automatic runner on second, seldom used Rule 5 draftee Nasim Nuñez (starting in place of Abrams) was asked to bunt. He executed perfectly, though he pulled up lame running down the first base line and had to be helped back to the dugout with leg cramps.

With flamethrowing closer Ben Joyce now on the mound for the Angels, Call stepped up and worked his way to a full count. He then managed to make solid contact on a 99-mph fastball just off the lower, outside edge of the strike zone from Joyce and sent the ball on a screaming line toward Guillorme, who had to be drawn in for a potential play at the plate. Guillorme couldn’t react in time, and Call was mobbed by teammates after rounding first.

"It just looked like it was going right in his glove," said Call, now 17-for-37 with eight RBIs and six walks in 11 games since replacing the departed Lane Thomas in right field. "So I was kind of deflated. Because I hit it hard. And then it just happened fast: I saw the ball floating, and I was like: 'Oh, my gosh. He didn't catch it. Time to have some fun!'"

The Nats haven't had the opportunity to have that kind of fun much this season. They're now 4-8 in extra innings. Given what happened the previous day, this one was particularly enjoyable.

"It's exciting," Finnegan said. "A.C. has been a sparkplug since he's come up. He's doing everything. That can't be an easy at-bat, a guy throwing like that. He was able to get the job done. And walk-offs are always great for the morale of the clubhouse."

Mitchell Parker knew his task coming into this game. The Nationals didn’t get quality starts during their four-game series against San Francisco, and DJ Herz’s rain-affected, 2 2/3-inning performance Thursday put added strain on an already tired bullpen. Parker needed to give his team length tonight, preferably quality length.

Which is exactly what he did. Parker needed only seven pitches (six strikes) to get through a quick top of the first. And though he served up a towering, two-run homer to Jo Adell in the top of the second – the ball cleared the left field bullpen – there were no other blemishes of consequence on his pitching line. (Even those two runs technically were unearned because of Parker’s wild pickoff throw to first a few minutes prior.)

The lefty finished off the top of the sixth with his pitch count at 87, and under normal circumstances, that might have been the end of his night. But given the state of the bullpen, Martinez opted to let his starter re-take the mound for the seventh and hope for the best.

"That's awesome," Parker said. "Being able to get back out there and have the opportunity for it, and save the (bullpen arms), it's awesome."

Parker would surrender a pair of singles before getting Nolan Schanuel to pop up a bunt, at which point Martinez signaled for Jacob Barnes to replace him. Barnes got the job done, retiring both batters faced to strand a runner in scoring position. He went on to strand two more runners in scoring position in the eighth.

If only the Nationals had supplied their pitching staff with just a bit more run support. They did get on the board first, manufacturing a run in the bottom of the first thanks in large part to botched potential 4-6-3 double play by the Angels that allowed García to score from third. But that one run was unlikely to hold up all night.

The Nats managed two infield singles off José Soriano from the second through sixth innings, barely threatening to score again. The absence of Abrams from the lineup certainly didn’t help, with Call bumped up to the leadoff spot and Nuñez getting only his fourth career start at shortstop in Abrams’ place.

It got no better when the Angels went to their bullpen, with Hunter Strickland (who did not get a tribute video despite the 2019 championship ring he owns) retiring the side in the seventh with three groundouts.

But there were still a couple chances left for the Nationals. If they could only take advantage of them. Which they finally did by night's end.

"Sometimes it only takes one more than the other guys," Martinez said.