Nationals bench steps up to help in three-game sweep of Pirates

After Thursday's loss to Tampa Bay, the sixth straight non-winning series for the Nationals, manager Matt Williams said that he was looking for players to "step up."

Over the weekend, in three sold-out games at Nationals Park, the Nats stepped up with three wins against the red-hot Pirates, who had arrived with a season-high eight-game hit streak.

In every game over the weekend, the Nationals had at least three regular starters not in the lineup. Left fielder Jayson Werth (wrist fractures) and first baseman Ryan Zimmerman (plantar fasciitis) were already on the disabled list. Shortstop Ian Desmond and second baseman Anthony Rendon were each rested for one game and third baseman Yunel Escobar missed Max Scherzer's Saturday no-hitter with a stomach bug.

The Nationals' starting pitching was outstanding, allowing the Pirates just one run in the three games. The Pirates tallied two late runs Sunday against reliever Felipe Rivero.

But the offense also did its job. Bryce Harper was his usual self. Harper had two hits, a homer and two runs scored on Saturday. On Sunday, Harper had a homer in the first inning.

The lower two-thirds of the order really stepped up as Williams demanded. On Friday, spots four through nine contributed 10 hits. On Saturday, those hitters added three hits. And on Sunday, hitters four through nine contributed nine hits. For the weekend series, that segment of the batting order scored eight runs and had eight RBIs.

Clint Robinson played right field and first base against the Pirates, hitting from the cleanup spot. He had a single, a double and two runs scored. Spots four through nine scored five of the nine runs the Nationals tallied in their record-setting first inning Sunday.

"We all have confidence in ourselves," Robinson said. "The Nationals have done good job of putting together depth, so when you have injuries, you can deal with it and not put yourself in too much of a rut. We just go out every day and put our work in and let the results happen."

Players like Robinson, first baseman/outfielder Tyler Moore, catcher Jose Lobaton and infielder/outfielder Danny Espinosa have provided important depth when frontline players have been out.

"It's great, the starters are battling every day hard," Moore said earlier in the month. "Us bench guys are just trying to help those guys out. That's why we are a team. Just try to give those guys a day off every once and awhile."

When the Nationals slowed down after their incredible May, part of the problem was pitching. But another reason was the offense was just not clicking. For the Nationals to continue an upward trend, guys that normally don't get 400 at-bats a season will have to step up.

This weekend, that is exactly what happened in the three-game sweep of the Pirates.