Nats end 32-inning scoring drought
NEW YORK » Trea Turner touched the plate, then turned to his teammates on the bench. “We did it, boys,” he told them. Turner set off a lively dugout celebration after scoring a run that ended Washington’s 32-inning scoreless drought and the Nationals broke loose in a huge way, hammering the New York Mets 15-0 Sunday.
“I think everybody knew it was coming,” slugger Bryce Harper said.
The Nationals had been shut out in three straight games — for the first time since the team moved from Montreal to Washington in 2005 — before Juan Soto’s RBI groundout in the sixth.
Ahead 1-0 in the eighth, Nats erupted for eight more runs in their biggest inning of the season. The burst featured homers by Adam Eaton and Wilmer Difo, and a three-run, pinch-hit double by Harper.
Mark Reynolds launched his
sixth career grand slam to highlight a six-run ninth.
“The bats, like I said, these guys can hit,” manager Dave Martinez said. “They proved that the last couple of innings.”
The romp came with a cost, though, as Nationals reliever Kelvin Herrera was carted off the field with one
out to go. He handled Jose Bautista’s grounder, but hurt the top of his left foot running to first base and hopped to the bag.
Herrera had X-rays and was on crutches and wearing a boot after the game. The Nationals said they didn’t yet have an update on his injury.
Hoping for the Nationals’ first run since Ryan Zimmerman’s game-ending homer on Wednesday night, Martinez wrapped
up his pregame media session with this exhortation: “Let’s score some points!”
They did, and Jefry Rodriguez (2-1) produced his best performance since his big league debut in June. The 25-year-old righty blanked the Mets on two singles for six innings. He walked four and struck out three.
The Nationals neared the worst slump in franchise history, a 34-inning streak in 2004 as the Expos.
The major league record is 48 innings without a run by the 1968 Chicago Cubs and the 1906 Philadelphia Athletics.
Turner almost stopped Washington’s string by himself, leading off the sixth with a drive that hit the padding atop the leftfield wall and went for a double. He took third on a single by Anthony Rendon and, after Zimmerman struck out, scored on Soto’s slow roller to the right side.