Robles leads surge in twinbill-opening win (updated)

They say you can start drawing legitimate conclusions about a ballclub on Memorial Day, with nearly one-third of a season’s worth of data available by then. So as we commemorate this holiday weekend, here’s one thing we can say with some certainty about the 2022 Nationals: When they win, they score a bunch of runs.

The Nats don’t have a great lineup. They don’t hit for power. They don’t consistently cross the plate night in and night out.

But when they do cross the plate, they do it in droves. And today’s 13-7 victory over the Rockies in the opener of a split doubleheader was merely the latest evidence of it.

The Nationals, who now have their first three-game winning streak of the year, have won only 11 of their last 34 games overall. But in those 11 wins, they’ve scored an average of 8.8 runs, blasting the competition and rarely needing to sweat those victories out.

And would you believe they're one of only four teams in the majors (joining the Dodgers, Yankees and Cardinals) to score 10 or more runs six times this season?

"If I could bottle that, I'd be a pretty rich guy," manager Davey Martinez said with a laugh and a sigh. "Unfortunately, that's the way the game goes."

It happened again today when the Nats shrugged off the three runs Aaron Sanchez allowed in the top of the first and proceeded to score eight off Colorado starter Austin Gomber, then another three off reliever Ashton Goudeau.

Production came from every spot in the lineup. By the end of the second inning, everyone had either delivered a hit or scored a run. But most notable of the entire bunch was the seemingly forgotten Victor Robles, who enjoyed his best single-game showing in ages and continued his quiet resurgence toward a respectable batting line.

In the game’s first four innings alone, Robles had a two-run single, an RBI single, a stolen base and the crowning achievement: a three-run homer off Goudeau, his first of the season. Throw in a hit-by-pitch later in the game, and the only item missing from a Victor Robles Cycle was a bunt (which, alas, never came).

"Awesome. I'm really happy for him," Martinez said. "And I know he was ecstatic, just because he loves this team. He loves his teammates, and he wants to contribute. It was a big day for him."

With this six-RBI performance, Robles continued a month-long surge, even if it hasn’t exactly come via linear path. Nevertheless, over his last 21 games, he’s batting .322 with a .397 on-base percentage and .804 OPS.

"Very excited, and very happy that I had the results I had today," he said, via interpreter Octavio Martinez. "Obviously, all the hard work is paying off, and I'm very thankful also that our hitting coach (Darnell Coles), he's never given up on me. We keep grinding out there and working hard and it's starting to pay off."

Among the others who came through at the plate today were Nelson Cruz (two-run single, two walks), Maikel Franco (two doubles, two RBIs), Alcides Escobar (two hits, RBI) and Riley Adams, who drew two walks and then launched a two-run homer in the eighth to put the game away.

In many ways, this game bore a striking resemblance to the Nationals’ May 11 contest with the Mets. On that night, Sanchez gave up three quick runs in the top of the first, only to watch his teammates come right back and score five in the bottom of the inning and then three more in the bottom of the second en route to an 8-3 win.

What happened this afternoon? Would you believe Sanchez gave up three quick runs in the top of the first (all scoring on C.J. Cron’s moonshot homer to left), then watched as his teammates came right back and scored five in the bottom of the inning?

But wait, there’s more. Though Sanchez did give up another run in the top of the second, the Nationals got back on script in the bottom of that inning, scoring three more runs just as they did 17 days prior, extending the lead to 8-4.

The biggest difference this time around: Sanchez was unable to stop the bleeding. He enjoyed only one clean inning (the top of the third) and wound up getting yanked five batters into the top of the fourth, with three more runs charged to him.

"I just tried to make pitches, and I felt like I did that the rest of the game," the right-hander said. "Just luck of the draw, really. A couple flared hits. A couple infield singles. I feel like the only bad pitch I made all day was the curveball on the home run. It is what it is. They guys picked me up, and it was a great win."

All told, Sanchez was charged with seven runs and eight hits allowed in only 3 2/3 innings, the latest in a line of substandard outings that should seem to leave the 29-year-old on the roster bubble but may not. Through seven starts, he now sports a gaudy 8.33 ERA and 1.755 WHIP. But until Stephen Strasburg, Cade Cavalli or someone else is deemed ready, the Nationals don’t appear to have any immediately viable replacement for him in their rotation.

"I really believe now moving forward he's got to mix in his changeups a little bit more," Martinez said of Sanchez. "We talked about his curveball usage. We are going to talk to him about that as well, and get him to do more of that throughout the game."