Soto delivers in comeback, Strasburg improves

For weeks, as their season corkscrewed out of control, manager Davey Martinez has maintained that the Nationals have not quit. Most nights, it seemed like he was damning them with faint praise. Some wondered if he had gotten stuck on that cliché because he repeated it so frequently.

On Saturday night - well, early Sunday morning, if you want to be precise - the Nats were finally rewarded for their sticktuitiveness.

Juan Soto's two-run bases-loaded single in the eighth inning highlighted a four-run rally that produced a 5-4 comeback victory over the Brewers, squaring the weekend series between the clubs. The Nationals are now back at .500 at 68-68.

Thanks to a rain delay of 1 hour, 57 minutes in the top of the eighth inning, there were only a few hundred hearty fans remaining of the crowd of 30,875 at Nationals Park to enjoy the comeback. But they were treated to the kind of gutsy effort that Martinez has insisted is commonplace for the Nationals, even when they don't get the desired results.

"It was awesome," Martinez said. "Like I said, it was a testament to the boys. They don't quit."

Reliever Joakim Soria got the first two outs of the eighth in a 3-1 game before things unraveled - and quickly - when he suddenly lost the ability to throw strikes. Adam Eaton doubled and scored on Trea Turner's single to center to get the Nats within a run. Turner stole second, then Soria walked Bryce Harper and Anthony Rendon, pitches missing badly, to fill the bases. Lefty Dan Jennings relieved Soria, a textbook move that hardly produced the desired results.

That brought Soto to the plate, and the rookie looked like he hadn't waited almost two hours to have a chance to hit - or perhaps like he was champing at the bit for a chance to deliver - lining a two-run single to center, chasing Jennings and putting the Nats up 4-3. Jordan Lyles came in and uncorked a wild pitch to plate Rendon for a two-run cushion.

That insurance run became important when pinch-hitter Tyler Saladino homered off Justin Miller to lead off the ninth. But Miller got out of the inning, despite a two-out single by Jesús Aguilar.

For the past couple of weeks, Martinez has been questioned almost daily about when he would give Soto a rest. But the rookie keeps piling up games and resting only on scheduled off-days. The way he attacked a game-deciding situation tonight repaid his manager's faith.

After hitting just .255 in August, Soto acknowledged that he's made some adjustments.

"I just keep doing Juan Soto things," he said. "I just keep working. Keep coming every day to fight."

In this case, delivering meant doing something he and Martinez have spoken about frequently. Soto stuck to the game plan when he got a 2-2 fastball from Jennings in a lefty-on-lefty matchup that clearly didn't favor the pitcher.

"His two-strike approach," Martinez said when asked what most impressed him about Soto's at-bat. "Being patient. Staying up the middle. We talk about it almost every day. In these situations, you use the biggest part of the field and hit the ball up the middle."

Waiting out the rain delay wasn't even difficult for Soto, who kept plenty busy.

"Just trying to be focused on the game," he said. "Keep working, go to the cage, do your thing and come back and fight."

Soto's work put the finishing touches on a long night, but Martinez was equally impressed by the effort from starting pitcher Stephen Strasburg, who worked six innings in a no-decision. During the rain delay, an official scorer's reversal changed an error to a hit, saddling him with two earned runs on five hits, with two walks and seven strikeouts.

But the 93-pitch effort was clearly his best of three outings since he returned from a stint on the disabled list with a cervical nerve impingement. At times, he looked downright dominant.

"The (fifth) inning there, you could tell he kind of lost the mechanics a little bit," Martinez said. "He came out, we talked about it and I told him that was perfect, that was what we needed. But he's doing better every day. He touched 95 (mph) today. He's getting better. His velo's back. The first few innings, he was lights out. That's the Strasburg we've seen in the past. Hopefully, he's got it now and he's good."

Strasburg said he has been working with pitching coach Derek Lilliquist lately to refine his mechanics, eliminate overstriding and make his delivery more succinct.

"I've been working on some stuff with Lilly - working on my stride and not jumping," he said. "Started to sync up pretty well. There was some lapses, but it was definitely an improvement."