Nationals hang on for wild 11-10 win over A's

OAKLAND, Calif. - Six years later, Ryan Zimmerman made Ryan Madson pay once again with a big blast late to win a ballgame for the Nationals.

Facing the veteran reliever for the first time since 2011, Zimmerman launched a three-run homer down the left field line, breaking an eighth-inning tie and propelling the Nationals to what became a 11-10 victory over the Athletics after a wild ninth inning for both lineups.

The blast was Zimmerman's 16th of the season, tied for the league lead and surpassing his total from the entire 2016 season, even though this was only the Nats' 55th game of 2017.

It came against a foe Zimmerman remembers well from the first half of his career.

Once a trusted late-inning reliever for the Phillies' pennant-winning clubs, Madson has spent his recent years pitching in the American League. But he had faced Zimmerman 23 times before, with the slugger owning nine hits and one home run against him. That homer came in his most recent at-bat, August 19, 2011, and was a walk-off grand slam at Nationals Park.

This clutch homer came with two men on base after Trea Turner singled and stole second, Bryce Harper was intentionally walked and both players pulled off a bold double steal. Zimmerman then belted a 3-1 pitch from Madson down the left field line, breaking open what had been a tie game at that point.

Tanner Roark, who had surrendered the game-tying homer to Khris Davis in the seventh but maintained a low pitch count, was given a chance to pitch the eighth but was pulled after allowing a two-out RBI double to Chad Pinder that trimmed the lead to 6-4.

Koda Glover, well-rested having not been needed since Wednesday night in San Francisco, got out of the eighth thanks to a diving stop at first base by Adam Lind, who was giving Zimmerman a day off in the field while playing in the American League park.

Back-to-back homers by Matt Wieters and Michael A. Taylor in the top of the ninth extended the Nationals' lead to 9-4. Daniel Murphy's two-run single then made it 11-4, but Glover still took the mound for the bottom of the ninth. He wound up allowing four singles before walking in a run and getting pulled in favor of Shawn Kelley, who despite entering with a five-run lead actually was pitching in a save situation, as the A's had the tying run on-deck.

Kelley got one quick out but then served up a grand slam to Matt Joyce, giving the A's six runs in the ninth and incredibly turning this into a one-run game. Somehow, the veteran reliever settled down after that, got the final two outs and secured the series victory for the Nationals, who now head to Los Angeles for the final leg of their California trip, having gone 5-1 in the Bay Area.

Both starting pitchers had been on cruise control for most of the afternoon until a couple of big blasts late altered the tone of the game.

The Nationals had been stymied by Sonny Gray for five innings, failing to even advance one runner to second base. But then with two on and nobody out in the sixth, Turner drilled a double off the wall in right-center. Wieters and Taylor each scored, with Taylor actually needing to slow down rounding third to avoid lapping his teammate.

Brian Goodwin's subsequent sacrifice fly brought home Turner with the Nationals' third run of the inning and left Roark in position to pitch with a lead for the first time all afternoon.

That opportunity didn't last for long, though. After coasting through six innings of one-hit ball, Roark allowed a leadoff single to Jed Lowrie in the bottom of the seventh, then hung a first-pitch breaking ball to Davis.

Davis, who had accounted for Oakland's only early run after a leadoff double in the second, crushed this pitch down the left field line. The ball clanged off the foul pole, and suddenly this game was tied 3-3.

No matter, because Zimmerman still had one more big blast in him against a longtime foe.