Nationals do enough right to win opener (updated)

The stands were mostly empty, the prospect of a long day and night of baseball was looming and the Nationals and Rockies had to conjure up the energy to get through today's doubleheader opener on their own.

That made for what at times was a sleepy afternoon of baseball on South Capitol Street. In the end, the Nationals managed to engage themselves just enough at the right moments to walk away with a 3-2 victory and give themselves an opportunity to sweep the doubleheader when Patrick Corbin takes the mound at 7:05 p.m. tonight.

Solo homers by Adam Eaton and Anthony Rendon (the latter breaking a deadlock in the bottom of the seventh), a heads-up play at first base by Matt Adams and effective work from four relievers over five innings all contributed to the one-run win.

Fernando Rodney and Sean Doolittle closed it out, perhaps leaving the Nationals bullpen in shaky shape heading into tonight's game. But manager Davey Martinez took no chances and did whatever he needed to try to win the opener, and in the process bring the Nationals to within five games of the first-place Braves (for the moment).

"When you have a doubleheader, you really want to win the first game," Martinez said. "And today we had a chance to win the game. So when we went ahead, it was no holds barred. You use your (best relievers) to try to keep it that way."

Before a sparse crowd - official paid attendance was 14,628, the smallest crowd at Nationals Park since April 18, 2012 (14,520 vs. the Astros) - the makeup portion of the doubleheader got underway, with a couple of starting pitchers who weren't particularly sharp but were effective nonetheless.

Erick Fedde needed 79 pitches just to complete four innings, a stark cry from his 66-pitches-in-six-innings outing last week in Baltimore. He may have labored this time, but he limited the Rockies to only one run, that one coming via a double and two productive outs.

But because the Nationals couldn't get anything going against Rockies starter Jon Gray, Martinez had a decision to make in the bottom of the fourth. With the bases loaded, two out and his team trailing 1-0, Martinez could've let Fedde bat for himself and re-take the mound. Instead, he sent Gerardo Parra to the plate to pinch-hit.

"Fedde had close to 80 pitches," Martinez said. "It didn't look like Gray was throwing the ball well at that time. And struggled a little in that inning. So why not? Maybe a base hit gets us two runs."

It didn't quite work out that way, but it did work to an extent. Parra drew a bases-loaded walk to tie the game, but that's all the Nationals got. So now Martinez needed five innings from his bullpen in the opener of a day-night doubleheader.

"I definitely wanted to go more," said Fedde, who was optioned to Double-A Harrisburg after the game because the Nationals won't need a fifth starter again until Aug. 6. "I'm hoping maybe (No. 8 hitter Victor Robles) hits a big double and then clears the bases or something. Then I can go back out there. Especially with the doubleheader, trying to get as many innings as I can for the bullpen. It wasn't ideal, but situations come where we needed a big hit, and it ended up being the right move, for sure."

The bullpen did provide quality work, helping justify the move. Matt Grace should've had two quick innings of relief but was done in by shaky defense with two outs in the sixth. Eaton misread Yonder Alonso's drive to deep right field for a double, then Trea Turner was charged with an error when Raimel Tapia's looper up the middle caromed off second base and the shortstop couldn't handle it. That set the stage for Ryan McMahon to drive a run home with a two-out single.

The Nationals, though, had already scored their second run of the afternoon when Eaton led off the bottom of the fifth with a homer to right-center. And thanks to a heads-up play in the field, they escaped potential damage in the top of the seventh.

With two outs and a runner on second, Wander Suero got David Dahl to hit a chopper to third. Anthony Rendon had to make a quick throw to first, and it was a bang-bang call for umpire Chad Whitson. Before knowing what Whitson's call would be, though, Adams fired the ball to the plate and watched as Kurt Suzuki applied the tag on Charlie Blackmon, who was trying to catch them by surprise and score all the way from second.

"I knew it was going to be bang-bang, because Dahl can run a little bit," Adams said. "And I think if I would have looked back to see what was called, then if he is safe, then Charlie is going to be safe at home. So I wanted to make sure there was no doubt at home."

Bud Black came out to discuss the play with plate umpire Ron Kulpa, but the Rockies manager had no argument. Since expanded replay was instituted, players have been instructed to finish out each play, just in case of a reversal. And so, even had Dahl been ruled safe at first, the out at the plate would've stood, thanks to Adams' astute throw.

"We practice that," Martinez said. "We did it all spring training. And when we take infield, we make sure guys are aware when a guy's on second, he might go home. Heads-up play by Matty to remember to do it."

That proved significant, because it kept the game tied 2-2 at the seventh-inning stretch. And when Rendon led off the bottom of the inning with his blast to left-center, the Nationals now had the lead.

"Just trying to see something over the plate, trying to do damage," the All-Star third baseman said. "I wasn't necessarily swinging for the fences, but trying to hit the ball hard. And my direction was aiming toward left-center. I had the right launch angle."

Rendon laughed. It's something the Nationals are able to do a lot right now, thanks to 35 wins in 50 games.