Suzuki's bat sets tone in Nats' 8-4 win over Orioles

The Nationals offense returned to form Wednesday night in an 8-4 win over the Orioles, courtesy the big inning again. The Nats stamped their impression on Baltimore starter Asher Wojciechowski with five runs in the first inning and three more tallies in the fifth inning off of Richard Bleier.

Both rallies were highlighted by big hits from veteran catcher Kurt Suzuki.

Suzuki slammed a two-run homer to left field in the first frame and then added a two-run double to left field in the fifth inning. The second hit lifted the Nats to an 8-2 lead. The homer was his 14th of the season.

And as you would expect from a quality hitter, afterward, Suzuki was more upset with the 6-4-3 grounder that ended the seventh.

"Try to get a good pitch to drive," Suzuki said. "Try not to hit the ball on the ground like I did my last at-bat and into a double play. Yeah, just trying to get a good pitch, work a good count, and not miss it. That's kind of the name of the game in this league where you might get one pitch an at-bat, you got to hit it."

Both of his big hits were to left field. Is he most successful when he pulls the ball down the line?

"I don't necessarily think pull so much as I just try to attack the ball without hooking it," Suzuki said. "I try to keep it straight, which is why I popup a lot in fair territory. But at the same time, you want to get a good pitch to hit, you don't really want to hook it. You kind of want to get that ball to get that good spin on it to keep carrying."

The Nats were shut out 2-0 in Game 1 of the Orioles series. Manager Davey Martinez spoke during Game 2 pregame that when the Nats have been on during this recent hot streak they have been able to score early.

"Baseball is weird, man," Suzuki said. "Their guy last night pitched well (Tuesday). Moved the ball around, mixed it up. Today we just wanted to come out and set the tone early. Nice to put some runs across with Max (Scherzer) on the mound again. It was good."

Suzuki has been a welcomed addition by the Nats pitching staff with his game management and defensive catching skills. But a big bonus has been his hitting ability. The last three seasons, the 35-year-old Suzuki has hit .283, .271 and his current .268, combining for 45 homers. The previous best for homers in a three-year span was 42 from 2008-2010 with the Athletics.

"It's been good," Suzuki said. "I had some great hitting coaches over there that are still over there in Atlanta, (Braves hitting coach Kevin) Seitzer and (José Castro) over there. I've been kind of ragging (Nationals hitting coach) Kevin Long throughout my career. I've seen him all the time wondering when we'd be able to work together. Having him and Joe Dillon here is phenomenal. I've learned new things, learned different things.

"I've been around great hitters like Tony (Anthony Rendon) and Juan (Soto) and watching these guys hit. You can learn something from everybody, doesn't matter how young they are, how old they are. You can learn something from everybody."

Martinez, a veteran himself of 17 seasons in the big leagues, recognizes the experience that Suzuki brings as an important asset to knowing what pitchers are trying to do and waiting for the right pitch to hit.

"He's good because he understands," Martinez said. "I think as you get older and you're in this league for a period of time, you start understanding who you are and what you can do. I think he's at that point in his career, he's been that way for a while, but you watch him, for me he's an RBI machine, he loves to hit with guys on base. He really does.

"And he takes pride in doing that, especially with guys on third base, he does not like leaving guys on third base with less than two outs, or anytime. But to be a catcher and to hit and catch like that, that's pretty hard to do."

Probably the best person to ask about the tremendous value of all facets of Suzuki's game is his starting pitcher, Scherzer. The right-hander remembers having to pitch against the catcher while he was with the Braves the last two seasons prior to his return to the Nats.

"He's been so great for us," Scherzer said. "I love throwing to him. He competes behind the plate and he competes at the plate. He knows what he can do at the plate. He knows himself and goes out there and just grinds ABs.

"Having to face him the last couple of years I knew that's the real deal. He's really one to get you. So for him to come over here getting to work with him, he's got way higher of a baseball IQ than I realized. It shows in his game of what he can do behind the plate and at the dish."