Nationals survive
The fireworks started once the bullpens showed up in Washington. Ryan Raburn drove in the game-winning run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, and the Nationals survived another late-inning collapse to beat the New York Mets 3-2 on Monday night and win back-to-back games after dropping three in a row.
WASHINGTON — The fireworks started once the bullpens showed up in Washington.
Ryan Raburn drove in the game-winning run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth and the Nationals survived another late-inning collapse for a 3-2 victory over the New York Mets on Monday night.
Curtis Granderson, out of the starting lineup with a right hip muscle strain, tied the game with a two-out, two-run home run off Nationals reliever Matt Albers (4-1). Granderson’s heroics came after Michael A. Taylor’s two-run home run in the bottom of the eighth broke the scoreless tie.
Matt Wieters opened the Washington ninth with a walk against Paul Sewald (0-3), moved to second after a sacrifice bunt and took third on Adam Lind’s deep fly ball.
After Stephen Drew’s walk, Raburn’s slow, looping liner to left field off Fernando Salas fell in front of a diving Yoenis Cespedes, scoring Wieters.
“I was watching the umpire and I (saw) him say safe,” Raburn said. “I was hoping it would stay that way and then I saw them talking and I was like, ‘Oh, no.’ But it fell in.”
Granderson wasn’t sure what he would have done had his hit not cleared the wall.
“I was just hopeful that it would get out because I wasn’t sure what I was going to be able to do after that in terms of trying to go extra bases or anything like that,” he said. “The fact that it just went just enough was a good thing.”
Washington’s Stephen Strasburg and Mets starter Steven Matz each tossed seven scoreless innings in
their respective no-decisions. Then chaos ensued.
Nationals left fielder Brian Goodwin kept the game scoreless in the top of the eighth by throwing out Brandon Nimmo trying to score from second on Jose Reyes’ base hit.
The Nationals’ bullpen entered Monday with a major league-worst 5.12 ERA. Sammy Solis allowed T.J. Rivera’s single in the ninth before Albers entered with two outs.
Strasburg, one of five Nationals chosen to the 2017 NL All-Star team, allowed 2 hits with 6 strikeouts and 3 walks in his third start against New York this season.
ROCKIES 5, REDS 3
Rookie Raimel Tapia finished a single shy of the cycle, Charlie Blackmon lined a home run after it was announced he would participate in the All-Star Home Run Derby and host Colorado beat Cincinnati.
CARDINALS 14, MARLINS 6
Rookie Luke Voit hit his first major-league home run and drove in four runs, Tommy Pham reached base five times and host St. Louis beat Miami.
PHILLIES 4, PIRATES 0
Aaron Nola struck out eight in seven innings, Freddy Galvis and Maikel Franco hit two-run home runs and host Philadelphia beat Pittsburgh.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
TWINS 9, ANGELS 5
Max Kepler tied a career high with four hits, including a home run, Adalberto Mejia earned his third consecutive victory and host Minnesota defeated Los Angeles.
YANKEES 6, BLUE JAYS 3
Masahiro Tanaka pitched seven innings for his second consecutive victory after a long slump, and host New York beat Toronto.
RED SOX 7, RANGERS 5
Andrew Benintendi (Arkansas Razorbacks) blooped a two-run single over a drawn-in infield in the 11th inning and visiting Boston beat Texas for its fifth consecutive victory.
WHITE SOX 7, ATHLETICS 2
Todd Frazier doubled twice and drove in two runs to back Carlos Rodon’s first victory of the season, and visiting Chicago defeated Oakland.
ROYALS 3, MARINERS 1
Ian Kennedy allowed one run pitching into the seventh inning, Mike Moustakas and Alex Gordon both hit solo home runs, and visiting Kansas City defeated Seattle.
INTERLEAGUE BREWERS 8, ORIOLES 1
Travis Shaw started the rout with a go-ahead single in a four-run first inning, then left after he was hit on a hand by a pitch during host Milwaukee’s victory over Baltimore.