The Washington Nationals found themselves losers of five straight games last Wednesday and were swept by the Boston Red Sox, leading to a players-only meeting at the conclusion of their series with the Boston Red Sox. It is not known what was said during the players-only meeting however whatever was said, has worked!
The Nationals opened up a four-game series with the Miami Marlins on Thursday night and since that time, have gone 3-0 and have scored 35 combined runs in the three games. Their lineup has really begun swinging a hot bat and they will be looking for the series sweep of the Marlins on Sunday afternoon at home, in Nationals Park in Washington DC.
On Thursday, the Nationals put up 14 runs and had to come back from being down late in the game. The Nationals found themselves down 9-0 in the bottom of the 4th inning but thanks to a career game from Trea Turner, the Nationals came back strong and won 14-12. Turner had two home runs in the game, one of which was the first grand slam of his career. The Nationals posted a total of 12 hits in the game and 14 runs to cruise past the Miami Marlins.
On Friday, the Nationals lineup didn’t post the crazy numbers like they did on Thursday but they still found a way to win the game. The Nationals came up to bat in the bottom of the 9th inning, with the game tied 2-2. Nationals Manager Dave Martinez admitted in a postgame news conference that he was looking for someone who could end the game, with one swing of the bat. Martinez chose pinch-hitter Mark Reynolds and he made the right call.
Reynolds got up in the count three balls and one strike and that allowed him to be able to turn on a pitch. Reynolds took the Marlins Reliever Kyle Barraclough’s 5th pitch, and drove it over the left-center field wall, into the Marlins bullpen, to give the Washington Nationals the win by the score of 3-2. That was Reynolds 2nd career walk-off home run and the first for the Nationals in 2018.
On Saturday, Max Scherzer was on the mound for the Nationals and they were feeling pretty good about their chances, as per the norm whenever Scherzer is on the mound. Scherzer was looking to snap a two-game losing streak on Saturday and prevent taking a three-game losing streak into next week.
The Nationals made sure that Scherzer had run support on Saturday, and plenty of it! The Nationals lineup scored 18 runs and had 17 hits in the win over the Miami Marlins by the score of 18-4. Mark Reynolds was once again the hero of the day, going 5-for-5 with two home runs and ten RBI’s!
The Nationals have now scored 35 runs since they had that players-only meeting, and will be looking for the series sweep on Sunday when they send Tanner Roark to the mound. Roark may not be the best option to secure the sweep but he is the guy they have available. Roark has gone 0-4 in his last five starts, giving up 34 hits and 23 earned runs in those five games. Roark will look to snap his personal slump on Saturday when he faces Trevor Richards and the Marlins.