Nats overcome Gore's ragged first, end up routing Giants (updated)

It’s not exactly the way anyone wants this to go, but the Nationals are developing a penchant for surviving disastrous first innings from their starters and finding ways to come back and win at the end of the night.

A sustainable formula for long-term success? No. But they’ll take what they can get right now, and they’ll gladly take tonight’s 11-5 victory over the Giants, in which MacKenzie Gore once again dug his teammates into a hole and those teammates proceeded to dig their way out.

A four-run top of the first against Gore seemed to spell doom for the slumping left-hander and created a big uphill climb for the rest of the Nationals. But they immediately stormed back to take the lead one inning later, then kept hitting against San Francisco’s pitching staff and actually gave their bullpen some cushion for the later innings.

"We went from real gloomy," manager Davey Martinez said, "to boom."

The first big swing came from shortstop CJ Abrams, who led the way with a much-needed, three-run homer during a five-run bottom of the second. Keibert Ruiz also homered, as did James Wood, who reached the picnic tables in left-center in the bottom of the eighth after already tripling, drawing two walks and stealing two bases to complement a well balanced offensive attack from the same lineup that scored only one run Monday night against Logan Webb and the Giants bullpen.

"Just don't panic," Abrams said. "They put four up early, but we can't lay down. Just swing the bats like we did, and good things happen."

Gore entered this one feeling a bit better about himself after an improved start last week in Arizona following an extended stretch of subpar outings. One inning in, whatever positive vibes the left-hander was feeling had dissipated into the thick August air.

The Giants sent nine batters to the plate. Six of them reached base. Four of them scored. Two of them homered, with Heliot Ramos getting things started on a 3-1 fastball over the plate and Michael Conforto completing the rally with a three-run blast to center off a first-pitch slider that left Gore reeling again and left everyone wondering if he was due for another short night on the mound.

"You never feel that going in," he said. "What happened, happened. You just try to hold them there, keep us in the game and give us a chance."

To his credit, Gore did salvage the start. It was never pretty, and he never authored a 1-2-3 inning, but he allowed only one more run and made it through the fifth on 98 pitches, even managing to strike out six batters along the way. A work of art it was not. But at this point, he and the Nationals will cling to whatever positives they can.

"At some point we need to stop having these conversations about making progress, because I'm better than this," Gore said. "But we competed, and that's what it's all about. ... I did do that tonight, but I'm better than the way I'm pitching right now. I do need to pitch better."

It certainly helped when Gore's teammates more than made up for his five runs allowed in rapid fashion and actually left him in line for the win.

The Nats’ five-run rally in the bottom of the second was jump-started by Wood, who narrowly missed his third career homer but happily settled for his third career triple, a drive off the left field wall. The bottom of the lineup then kept things going with quality plate appearances from Alex Call (walk), Ildemaro Vargas (walk) and Jacob Young (RBI single after falling behind in the count 0-2).

"I think just knowing that we're able to string together some hits and get guys on base," Wood said of the mindset after his team went down four runs early. "At that point, it just takes a big swing to get us right back into it."

Sure enough, the definitive blast came right then from the guy atop the lineup, the guy who needed a big blast as much as anyone in this lineup. Abrams entered the game in a major funk at the plate, batting .138 and slugging .245 over the last month. Martinez, repeating the same mantra he espouses for most struggling hitters, reminded Abrams earlier today he "needs to get the ball up," and lay off pitches down (or even below) the zone.

Well, Abrams did get a pitch up from Hayden Birdsong. It was 4.4 feet up from ground level, to be precise, above his shoulders to be less precise. And yet Abrams somehow found a way to demolish that pitch and send it soaring to right-center for a three-run homer that completed the five-run rally and improbably gave the Nationals a 5-4 lead after Gore’s disastrous top of the first.

"I have no idea how he hit that ball," Birdsong said. "Good for him. That guy can hit. And they can hit fastballs. I learned that. I knew that going in. But not that many people are hitting that ball. That's impressive."

What was Abrams' reaction when he went back and looked at where the pitch was?

"I was confused about why I swung," he said with a wry smile. "But I was happy I did."

"I still don't believe it," Wood said. "It was crazy."

And the Nationals weren’t done. Ruiz also homered off Birdsong in the third, driving a fastball to right for his ninth of the season. And the first of Call’s two RBI doubles brought home another run and extended the lead to 7-4.

The Nats kept the pressure on San Francisco’s bullpen, adding a run in the fourth, another in the sixth and then Wood's 423-foot homer in the eighth, giving their beleaguered bullpen some cushion to work with over the late innings. Turns out the relief corps didn’t need it. Derek Law retired all six batters he faced in relief of Gore. Robert Garcia retired the side in the eighth. And Tanner Rainey, handed a six-run lead in the ninth, finished off what began as a ragged night for the Nationals but ended with high-fives at the center of the diamond.