How Joe Ross stifled Dee Gordon's running game

Jayson Werth's bloop single was big. So was Clint Robinson's subsequent two-run single. Joe Ross' seven strong innings on the mound put the Nationals in position to beat the Marlins yesterday. And then Blake Treinen's perfect eighth and Jonathan Papelbon's shaky-but-ultimately-effective ninth sealed the deal in the Nationals' 4-2 victory.

Here's one seemingly small moment, though, that actually played a major role in this game. You might not even have thought much of it at the time. But make no mistake: It was significant.

What was it? Ross' never-ending stream of pickoff attempts against Dee Gordon in the top of the sixth, a sequence that ended with catcher Wilson Ramos throwing out the speedy Miami leadoff man trying to steal second.

The game was tied 1-1 when Gordon led off the sixth with a single up the middle. As is the case anytime with Gordon, a single is merely the first step toward a likely stolen base attempt.

So with that in mind, Ross went about meticulously trying to keep Gordon as close to first base as possible and throw off his timing for his eventual steal. This is something the 22-year-old has been trying to perfect since he reached the big leagues last season, something he spent considerable time practicing this spring with some help from Nationals ace Max Scherzer.

"I worked on it a lot in spring training," Ross said. "Max is big on the long hold, won't even really pitch until a guy calls time. But I think working on it through spring kind of helped me out, and today ... I think that really played to my advantage."

Here's how Ross did it ...

With Gordon on first base and nobody out, Marcell Ozuna stepped to the plate for the Marlins. Before ever throwing a pitch, Ross first threw over to first twice, forcing Gordon to dive back into the base. He threw a fastball to Ozuna for strike one, then went right back with another pickoff attempt before catching Ozuna looking at strike two on a pitch thrown with a quick slide-step toward the plate.

The count now 1-2, Ross came to the set position and held it for several seconds before finally delivering the pitch: a slider that Ozuna whiffed at for a strikeout.

Next up was Christian Yelich, but before the Miami No. 3 hitter saw a pitch, he first saw Ross throw over to first base, again making Gordon dive back. Ross then came to a set and held the ball, waiting until Yelich finally asked for time and stepped out of the box. Next came yet another pickoff attempt.

Fans might have been growing restless at this point, but members of the Nationals pitching staff were loving every minute of this cat-and-mouse game.

"We were joking in the bullpen: If we were in Miami, there'd be cups on the field, people would be booing," Treinen said. "Because that's just how visiting fans are if you pick over so many times. It worked perfectly. It kept him in check. It was in the back of his head that he was going to pick over at any time."

Ross finally threw a pitch to Yelich, who took it for ball one. Then came another throw over to first, and another Gordon dive back. Then came ball two to Yelich. Then came a swinging strike, making the count 2-1. One final time, Ross threw to first, making Gordon dive back one final time.

The end result of all that: Gordon wound up shortening his lead by a half-step.

"I like that," Ramos said. "I like that because it helped the catcher get the opportunity to throw this guy out. We worked on that during spring training. He's been doing that really well. Now we are doing it during the season. That's perfect."

"I thought that was a great job on his part," said Robinson, the recipient of all seven of Ross' pickoff attempts. "He made some good pickoff throws, too. It wasn't like he was just flipping it over there. He was really challenging him to get back to the bag and stay on the backside."

Now, as Ross delivered his 2-1 pitch to Yelich, Gordon at long last broke for second base. Ross, though, got rid of the pitch quickly thanks to a slide-step, and Ramos quickly took the inside fastball, hopped to his feet and fired a strike to Danny Espinosa at second base. Espinosa caught the ball and applied the tag all in one continuous motion, and Gordon was called out, leaving the bases empty.

The final pitch from Ross and throw from Ramos were spot-on, but the whole sequence that led up to it helped make it possible.

"A lot of long holds, those always affect the runner, affect the hitter," Ross said. "It's not too comfortable on the pitcher, either. But I think the pickoffs kind of got him tired enough to where we had a really good chance of throwing him out, and Willy made a really good throw right on the bag. That was huge in that situation because once he gets on, he could be on third within two pitches. So that was big."

In only a brief time in the big leagues, Ross has already established himself as a pitcher who understands how to stop the running game. Opponents attempted only two stolen bases off him last year, and only one was successful.

They're now a measly 1-for-3 against him after yesterday's impressive execution of a play that bores most baseball fans to death but proved critical to the Nationals' victory.

"He knows what he's doing, and he's not intimidated by any situation," manager Dusty Baker said. "And the fact that he threw the ball so accurately to first base - because how many times have you seen guys try to pick guys off and throw the ball away? - that was great. And then Wilson threw one on the money. Dee Gordon is hard to throw out. That was a big play."