An inning later, with several players from their 2019 World Series squad in attendance — the team that so often clawed to comeback wins — the Nationals diverted from disaster and found their own flair with a 5-4 walk-off win at Nationals Park.
More specifically, Joey Meneses found a pitch he liked at the bottom of the strike zone to open the 10th. Those sorts of swings haven’t happened often for Meneses, whose average has hovered around .200 for much of the season. It showed in his celebration — after his single flew over the head of Astros center fielder Kyle Tucker. As a beaming Nasim Nuñez crossed home plate to embrace on-deck hitter Eddie Rosario, Meneses flung his helmet toward the onslaught of teammates coming to shower him with bubble gum from a bucket.
Jesse Winker, whose two-run single in the ninth had tied the score, provided Meneses — who finished 3 for 5 — with a crown: that bucket.
“I’ve been battling, struggling to start the season,” Meneses said through an interpreter. “This kind of at-bat, this situation, it kind of relaxes me.”
That late-game aptitude extended to right fielder Lane Thomas, who could have let a flyball drop in foul territory in the top of the 10th as Jose Altuve stood at third base, hoping to score on a sacrifice fly. Instead, he caught the ball and trusted his right arm, the same one that ranked second in the majors in outfield assists last year, nailing Altuve at the plate and ending the inning without damage. He slammed that same hand against his glove, another moment of catharsis from a player looking to turn the corner for Washington (9-11).
The Nationals were never out of the game because they never let it get out of hand. That began with Trevor Williams, who entered the season with low external expectations but Saturday lowered his ERA to 2.91. The right-hander struggled during his transition back into a full-time starter last year but said during spring training that he felt more capable of inducing groundballs and weak contact. After conceding a National League-worst 34 home runs last year, he would have to.
He has yet to allow one this season, and he was efficient after allowing two singles and a sacrifice fly to start the game. With the bullpen a bit taxed from a 5-3 loss the night before, he pitched six strong innings, allowing just three hits and the one run. Three of the final five batters he faced struck out looking.
“The starters are setting the tone, and our bullpen has some electric arms,” Williams said.
Washington lost its 2-1 lead when another tricky part of its roster — its lone left-handed reliever — was needed to usher the game to the strong back end of the bullpen. For the seventh, in came Robert Garcia, making his team-leading 11th appearance and pitching in his third straight game. He failed to record an out against the heart of Houston’s order; the Astros (7-15) notched a single, a walk and a single to tie the score. Hunter Harvey entered and allowed a go-ahead single to Jeremy Peña, another run charged to Garcia. The Astros added another run in the eighth.
Last year, Nationals left-handed relievers had an ERA of 4.63, seventh worst in the majors. The problem doesn’t appear solved. After this outing, Garcia’s ERA jumped to 6.48.
“It’s nice to have two or three lefties in the bullpen, but for now we’re doing well, we’re doing okay,” Manager Dave Martinez said.
CJ Abrams took the Astros’ Ronel Blanco — who tossed a no-hitter in his first start and entered Saturday with a 0.86 ERA — over the right field wall for a first-pitch home run, his sixth of the year, in the first inning. But Washington would have to wait to add much on. In the second, the Nationals loaded the bases but didn’t score. In the sixth, Joey Gallo’s leadoff double wasn’t enough. In the eighth, they got two on with nobody out and didn’t score. Their second run, brought home on a sacrifice fly by Riley Adams in the fourth, was possible only because of a dropped popup in foul territory.
Still, after Nick Senzel reached on catcher’s interference to start the ninth, Abrams nearly tied the score on a ball that missed the top of the fence by about a foot. Winker and Meneses took care of the rest. Their calm late in the game was enough.
“It’s hard to stay relaxed,” Meneses said. “As much as you try, the moments, the adrenaline kicks in, and it just takes over. But in those situations, I just try to take a deep breath and try to relax as much as I can.”
“I really want to be up there in that moment,” Winker said. “I look forward to that moment.”
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