Span, Espinosa charge to New York on a tear

FLUSHING, N.Y. - The Nationals showed up to Turner Field on Tuesday afternoon licking their wounds, in some cases literally, from a six-game losing streak. The offense, the main culprit for the early-season slide, had become a quagmire filled with poor situational hitting and untimely strikeouts.

They began the fifth inning on the mat, trailing by a normally insurmountable eight runs. But center fielder Denard Span wouldn't allow his team to be knocked out again. The veteran kept swinging away and led off with a double, his third straight hit of the night. After the resilient Span scored on a sacrifice fly, catcher Jose Lobaton smacked the life back into the punch-drunk Nationals with a three-run homer.

Suddenly, the laugher became a drama. You know the rest of the story by now. Not only was it a historic comeback, but the Nats followed with another 13 runs last night to rewrite the record books again. Never before has the franchise, in its 47 years in Montreal and Washington, scored 13 runs in back-to-back nights.

"I think maybe we were a little bit more loose than we had been," Span said.

That showed through clearly. After managing just 14 total runs during the six-game slump, the Nats busted out scoring 26 in two games on a whopping 30 hits.

Span arrived in Atlanta having just finished his first full week of the season, batting .240. By the time he left, his average sat at .317 after going 7-for-16 in the series, with two homers, four doubles, five RBIs and six runs scored. Talk about wearing out the scorekeeper.

"The last two days, we've been knuckling down and doing things we hadn't been doing all season," Span said. "So hopefully, it just continues."

Span was just one of the many Nats whose bat was scorching in Hotlanta. Infielder Danny Espinosa, now hitting .277, raised his season average .100 over the trio of games. His four hits last night helped add up to 7-for-11 in the series, with a double, two RBIs, two walks and three runs scored.

"Danny just continues to be easy at the plate," Nationals manager Matt Williams said. "He's getting good pitches to hit and hitting them. So, that's a good sign."

General manager Mike Rizzo agreed. After spending the spring trying to get comfortable seeing right-handed pitching from the right side of the plate, Espinosa scrapped the idea and went back to his normal switch-hitting style. He's altered his swing so it's not as long to the baseball, and the results were on display against the Braves.

"It's a much quieter approach, which allows him to see pitches better," Rizzo said. "We're really proud of the way he's battled through it. We like his approach."

The Nationals finished third in the National League in runs scored last season so the surprise of this season isn't the last two nights, but rather how poorly the offense had performed prior.

"I mean one through nine, we're very good," right fielder Bryce Harper said. "And we're missing one of our best hitters. It's a lot of fun going up there. We've got all the confidence in the world in everybody that goes up to the plate that they're going to get the job done no matter what. And if the guy doesn't get it done in front of him, it's a matter of time. We're having some fun right now."

Harper ripped a couple of balls to right field last night. He was 3-for-10 over the three games, with two doubles, five runs and four more walks to add to his league-leading total.

The Mets' imposing rotation has carried them through the first month of the season. As the Nats prepare to open a four-game set tonight at Citi Field against the division leaders, the question remains whether the last 48 hours were just a flurry from the offense.

"I think the only way we can look at it is it would be nice if we could go in there and win the series," Span said. "Right now, we've dug ourselves a little bit of a hole, even though it is quote-unquote early, but we just gotta concentrate on winning one game at a time and then winning series. If we do that, we'll get back to where we should be."