Young's clutch triple caps Nats' latest comeback win (updated)

ST. LOUIS – They overcame another subpar start from MacKenzie Gore, clawing their way from back from a three-run deficit to pull even with the Cardinals in the seventh.

And thanks to four scoreless innings from their bullpen, the Nationals gave themselves a chance to finally take the lead in the 10th. At which point Jacob Young came through with the biggest hit of his young career.

Young laced a three-run triple to right with two outs in the top of the 10th, the big blow the Nats desperately needed to complete their 28th come-from-behind win of the year, this one by the final score of 10-8 at a stunned Busch Stadium.

One night after getting no-hit for the second time in a calendar year and getting shut out for the 12th time this season, the Nationals cracked double-digits for only the seventh time in 2024.

"It's in the past. Turn the page," said Juan Yepez, who came through with three hits and two RBIs against his former team. "Just be aggressive and trust our talent. Swing hard, put the ball in play and play for the team. I think that's what we did, and that's how we got the win."

Having squandered multiple earlier opportunities to take the lead in regulation, the Nationals finally struck in extras. They loaded the bases with two outs, thanks to a tough walk drawn by rookie Trey Lipscomb to keep the inning alive. Young then stepped to the plate, got himself into a 2-0 count against Ryan Fernandez and then sent a line drive to right, just beyond a leaping attempt by Dylan Carlson, bringing everybody home as Young cruised all the way to third.

"Honestly, I thought about the Mets game where the guy jumped and caught the ball (to force) extra innings," said Young, referencing his tough lineout to right for the final out of the ninth in an eventual loss to New York earlier this month. "It was the first thing I thought of. And I saw him jump, and I saw the little white ball after it. I would've stayed at first if we scored the runs. I really didn't care. It just felt great to see the ball drop."

CJ Abrams then hustled to beat out a grounder to the right side, scoring Young to provide some added cushion, which Kyle Finnegan needed in the end. Finnegan served up a two-run homer to Paul Goldschmidt (the veteran's 2,000th career hit) but still closed out the bottom of the 10th and gave the Nats only their third win in 10 extra-inning games this season.

All this to finish off another impressive comeback.

"I think there's been a lot of ups and downs this year," Young said. "We're a young team, and I think we've done a great job trying not to sit in those lows for too long. Yesterday was a no-hitter. It happens. It's the same thing as losing a one-run ballgame. All losses count the same, all wins count the same. Just move on."

With another big night at the plate from Yepez against the team that dropped him from the roster last fall, the Nats turned a 6-3 deficit in the fifth into a 6-6 nailbiter in the seventh. But with a chance to take the lead in the eighth, they stranded two runners on base, leaving the game in the hands of a bullpen that has had a lot asked of it in recent weeks.

Robert Garcia joined Derek Law and Dylan Floro in posting zeros on the board, sending this one to the ninth still tied. Davey Martinez could’ve used Finnegan for the bottom of the ninth, but he decided to save his All-Star closer for a potential save in extra innings and instead entrusted Jacob Barnes with the game on the line. Barnes responded with a 1-2-3 inning on only seven pitches, earning the win in the process.

"I talked to Garcia about pitching really later in games, in high-leverage situations," said Martinez, who saw setup man Hunter Harvey traded to the Royals before the All-Star break and now could see Finnegan and/or Floro dealt before Tuesday's trade deadline. "He's done really well. And I also had a conversation with Jacob about (how) we're going to have to use you in more high-leverage situations. They've all been throwing the ball really well."

The message to Gore entering this one was clear as day: Get ahead in the count, get quick outs and keep the pitch count down after a string of laborious outings. The erratic lefty had totaled only 10 innings over his last three starts despite throwing a ridiculous 252 pitches in the process.

So when Gore opened tonight’s game with two quick zeros on a total of 24 pitches, everyone in the visiting dugout had to be ecstatic. Until the bottom of the third arrived, at which point he reverted back to his other form.

The first five Cardinals to face Gore in the third not only reached base, they all scored, thanks to homers by Masyn Winn and Nolan Arenado. The common theme: He fell behind in the count to all five batters, giving up the homers on counts of 2-0 and 1-0, respectively.

"He was 2-0 to almost every hitter, 1-0 to Arenado," Martinez said. "When he's ahead, he's really, really good and really efficient. I talked to him a little bit about how we've got to keep working ahead. But he goes out in the fifth and keeps it right there, which was awesome."

Indeed, Gore did manage to right his ship after the third-inning mess, allowing one more run via three straight singles in the fourth but otherwise retiring eight of the last 12 batters he faced to make it through the fifth on 90 pitches. Nevertheless, this slump continues. On June 20, he boasted a 3.26 ERA. Now, on July 26, that number has skyrocketed to 4.51.

"Look, today wasn't good, but it was better," Gore said. "I'm just trying to figure this whole thing out, stop the bleeding here. And we're going to."

In spite of their starter’s struggles tonight, the Nationals did provide a good amount of run support, no small feat given how difficult they found it to score the previous three days while getting swept by the Padres. They faced a familiar foe, though, in Sonny Gray, against whom they scored five runs in three innings earlier this month in D.C.

And the familiarity seemed to pay off. The Nats scored a pair of runs in the top of the second, with ex-Cardinal Yepez yet again punishing his old team while recording his current team’s first hit since the eighth inning Wednesday night, then Luis García Jr. ripping a two-run double to right-center for a 2-0 lead.

"When you score some runs early, it sets the tone," Yepez said. "It helps throughout the game."

Those two would team up again in the fourth, with Yepez producing a leadoff single and García coming through with an RBI single three batters later. García now has 12 RBIs and nine extra-base hits over his last 15 games, finally starting to hit the ball with authority for an extended stretch.

Yepez would deliver one more time against Gray, his double in the fifth driving in Abrams and advancing Jesse Winker to third. That allowed Winker to score moments later on James Wood’s groundout, cutting the deficit to 6-5.

And then for good measure, Yepez went to work against the St. Louis bullpen in his fourth plate appearance, sending a sacrifice fly to center off Andrew Kittredge to score Abrams from third and tie the game 6-6 in the seventh, making up for another less-than-uplifting performance from a Nationals starter.

"Obviously, the start wasn't great today," Gore said. "But we're playing hard. We've been playing hard all year. And we won the game."