Hot bats cool D.C.’s championship feeling
WASHINGTON — A championship vibe was felt at Nationals Park on Friday night, but it had nothing to do with baseball. Or even basketball — Warriors-Cavaliers wasn’t necessarily huge here. It was about hockey and a Stanley Cup championship, which the Capitals secured a night earlier.
Much of the sold-out crowd showed up in Caps T-shirts, and the Nationals acknowledged their hockey brethren with a pregame salute. Clearly, the good times carried over from a festive Thursday night.
At least until the Giants came to bat.
In the opener of a three-city, 10-game trip, the Giants scored four quick runs off Stephen Strasburg and raced to a 9-5 victory, their seventh win in eight games, to give them a winning record for the first time since May 15.
A season-high eight of their 15 hits went for extra bases, including home runs by Andrew McCutchen and Gorkys Hernandez. Brandon Crawford resumed his magnificent stretch of solid contact with two doubles — he’s hitting .425 since May 1 — and Alen Hanson got a rare start at third base and showed his stunning speed when legging out a triple and scoring from first on a double.
“I think we just built the momentum off what we did in this past homestand,” said McCutchen, citing the Giants’ 5-1 record against the Phillies and Diamondbacks. “Keep doing what we’ve been doing.”
The Giants took advantage of Strasburg, who’ll have an MRI exam Saturday after feeling shoulder tightness and getting diagnosed with inflammation. He was pulled after two innings and 35 pitches, and the Nationals used six relievers to finish up.
The Giants led 5-0 after scoring three times off Strasburg and twice off Wander Suero. But their starter, Andrew Suarez, who opened with three scoreless innings, retired just four more batters, surrendering four runs — two on Juan Soto’s homer and two on Bryce Harper’s single.
By the time the clinching Game 4 of the NBA Finals tipped off, the Nationals trailed 6-5. Then came the seventh inning, and the Giants rallied for three runs on Pablo Sandoval’s single, pinch-hitter Evan Longoria’s sacrifice fly and Hunter Pence’s second RBI hit.
“This is one of our better offensive games, because it was everybody doing something to contribute,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “The thing I liked is we came right back and scored after they scored, and that’s always huge. It’s good to see us tack on.”
Longoria was out of the lineup because, at the outset of a stretch of 17 games without a day off, Bochy wants to give guys breathers. Saturday, Hernandez will rest along with Pence, replaced by Austin Jackson and Mac Williamson. Sunday, it’s McCutchen’s turn to sit.
Hanson is expected to play either short or second Saturday, meaning Crawford or Joe Panik will get a break. Crawford was plunked on the elbow, so he could sit out.
At Nationals Park and throughout the region, the Caps figure to dominate sports talk through the weekend and into Tuesday’s parade and beyond. Nationals manager Dave Martinez vowed to host the Caps at a game in the near future, even offering a few rounds of batting practice.
This isn’t a town that takes a championship for granted. Washington’s last Super Bowl victory was in 1992. The Bullets/Wizards haven’t won a title since 1978. The Caps have one now. The Nationals still are waiting.
It’s not like in the Bay Area, where championships can come in bunches. But one is enough to unite a community and prompt teams from other sports to join the celebration. The Nationals and their fans honored the Caps on Friday, but the party wasn’t as good as it could have been, and the Giants made sure of that.