After late scratch, Lowe rallies to deliver go-ahead pinch-hit knock in Nats win (updated)

MIAMI – After a very successful homestand during which they went 4-2 against two contenders in the Diamondbacks and Dodgers, the Nationals have embarked on their first extended road trip of the season against teams with lower expectations.

The 10-day trip started tonight against the Marlins, who the Nats beat 11 times in 13 games last season. And while this opener started ominously, it resulted in a 7-4 comeback win in front of an announced crowd of 9,094 at an open-roofed loanDepot park.

Before the first pitch was ever thrown, the Nationals scratched Nathaniel Lowe, one of their most productive hitters and key defenders at first base, from the starting lineup because he was feeling under the weather.

“He's sick,” manager Davey Martinez said after the win. “But I talked to him before the game. I said, 'Look, if we have an opportunity to use you to pinch-hit, can you do it?' And he looked at me and said, 'Yeah, I think I can.' And I said, 'Alright, I'll check back with you.'”

In Lowe’s place, Josh Bell moved to first base, James Wood served as the designated hitter and Alex Call was inserted into the lineup in left field.

Then the Nats lost their shortstop and leadoff hitter in CJ Abrams, who was pulled from the game in the fourth inning. Abrams had struck out and walked in his only two plate appearances. He stole second base after his free pass in the third inning and had to stretch out his arm to stay on the bag. In the bottom frame, he fielded a grounder from Xavier Edwards moving to his left but made a low and wide throw to first, allowing the runner to reach.

Abrams sat out the first two games against the Dodgers this week with what he referred to as “kind of a hip flexor thing.” The injury originated from the final play of Sunday’s win over the Diamondbacks, in which the shortstop charged in to field a grounder and threw off-balance to first base in a similar manner he did tonight before exiting.

“It's the hip flexor again,” Martinez said. “It tightened up on him, so we'll re-evaluate him here and see how he's doing tomorrow.

“He said he felt it when he went to steal. And then he went out there, he tried to make that play up the middle and he felt it again. So he finished the inning, but he said he was tight.”

That left the Nationals lineup even more in shambles, as Paul DeJong slid over to play shortstop and Amed Rosario came off the bench to play third base and hit in the leadoff spot.

Without two productive bats for most of this game, the Nats struggled to collect hits in big spots. Although they recorded four hits and three walks against Marlins starter Edward Cabrera, the Nats went 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position and left five runners on base through the first six innings.

That was until that previously discussed pinch-hit opportunity presented itself and one of those bats that was believed to be lost was suddenly available.

Down 4-2 in the eighth with the bases loaded, Lowe surprisingly emerged from the Nationals dugout to pinch-hit for DeJong against right-hander Anthony Bender. After a 10-pitch battle that included six foul balls, Lowe smacked a sinker into the left field corner for a bases-clearing double to put the Nats on top 5-4.

“It was crazy,” Bell said. “Each pitch, we're yelling in the dugout, 'Keep going, keep going, keep going! You got this!' So it was cool to see him come through there.”

Despite the heroics, Lowe apparently didn’t feel well enough to stay in the game as José Tena pinch-ran for him at second and stayed in to play third base while Rosario moved to shortstop.

Good luck with your scorecards.

“As soon as I saw what was going on, I said, 'Hey, we got an opportunity here, maybe. So the bases are loaded, I want you to hit,'” Martinez said. “He got himself ready, and he had a heck of an at-bat. He fouled off a bunch of tough pitches and stayed on a ball and drove it to left field. It was huge. Then I had to pinch-run for him. He looked like he was exhausted already. So we'll see how he feels tomorrow. But, man, big hit for us. He picked us up.”

Lowe was the first to exit the Nationals clubhouse after the game, so he did not speak to the media as he left to get more rest and get away from the rest of the team.

The only other big swings before that came in the form of Wood’s double in the first, after which he was stranded at second, and Bell’s two-run home run in the sixth. His second homer of the season came off a first-pitch curveball from Cabrera and traveled 395 feet to right-center field.

“It feels good,” said Bell of homering against his former team. “Obviously, there's a lot of new faces over there, but you always want to play well first and foremost. But when it's against a team that you've played on in the past, it makes it a little bit sweeter.”

But that longball only cut the Marlins’ four-run lead in half after a disastrous fifth inning by Mitchell Parker.

Parker had cruised up to the fifth, giving up just two hits and a walk while only needing 54 pitches through the first four innings. But his first mistakes of the night came in that fifth frame.

The Nats left-hander plucked the leadoff batter, couldn’t field his position in time for an out against the second batter and was charged with a throwing error against the third to load the bases without recording an out. He then gave up a two-run single to Edwards and a two-run double to Kyle Stowers to put the Nats in a 4-0 hole.

“I mean, it's baseball. It's gonna happen,” Parker said. “Obviously, I gotta make a play better. We're gonna work on it here. It's no time to hit the panic button.”

To his credit, however, Parker came back in the sixth and stranded a two-out walk at first base. But the damage was done as he finished the night with five hits, four runs (three earned), two walks and three strikeouts on 99 pitches, 66 strikes, over six innings.

“The entire outing, I'd say, went really well,” Parker said. “We were getting soft contact. Obviously, things happen, but luckily we came out with a win. It was a great team win.”

Bell almost provided the Nats with one more big swing in the eighth. But his would-be go-ahead three-run home run fell short at the warning track in center field. No matter, because Lowe would clear the bags two batters later.

And for good measure, Wood crushed his fifth homer of the young season in the ninth for an insurance run. His fourth homer in his last four games was hit 110.5 mph off his bat and traveled 400 feet to left-center field. Another opposite-field shot.

Then Bell was able to add an extra run, racing all the way around from first base to score on Call’s two-out double.

“I'll tell you another guy, too, Josh Bell,” Martinez said. “We talk about the veteran guys. Man, he stepped up big time. Made some nice plays over at first base. A big home run. Ran the bases well. He's a constant pro. Like I said before, the reason why I wanted him here is because he could teach our young kids a lot.”

Kyle Finnegan then came on to record his fifth save of the season.

So it was the Nationals who battled through some early adversity and rallied to victory. They still have to check on the availability of both Lowe and Abrams moving forward. But at least they can take solace in the fact that they have now won five of their last six games.

“They want to win and I could really see that right now,” Martinez said of his young squad. “They're playing every game to win every game and go 1-0.”