Photo by Marlene Koenig for TalkNats
The Washington Nationals got this win in a blow-out, but it was tense in the first inning when starting pitcher Austin Voth loaded the bases with a walk and two hit-by-pitches with one out. Voth worked his way out of it giving up no runs after a visit by his pitching coach Paul Menhart. Whatever Menhart whispered to Voth worked as he closed out the first inning with no runs surrendered. Voth settled down to go 6.0 innings while giving up only one run in an 8-1 Nationals win for the team’s 50th of the season.
“He settled down and he was awesome,” manager Dave Martinez said about Voth. “Paul went out to talk to him and he settled down.”
The Nationals offense was led by the middle of the order of Anthony Rendon, Juan Soto,, Matt Adams, and Brian Dozier. It was Adams who got his team on the board with a blast onto Eutaw Street joining Adam Dunn and Roger Bernadina in the Eutaw Club. Rendon had two doubles with runners in scoring position, Soto blasted a 443 foot bomb into the bleachers, and Dozier manufactured two runs with his legs.
With Voth going six innings, Martinez was able to fill the other three innings with Tanner Rainey covering the 7th inning and Javy Guerra finished the final two innings of the game with another bullpen shutout. Rainey entered in a 4-1 game and he walked two batters which caused a call to the bullpen to get Wander Suero up, but Rainey got out of his self-created jam and Suero returned to the bullpen hutch beyond the centerfield walls.
With this win, the Nationals are 31-12 since May 24th and move back to 7.0 games above .500. The team will recall Erick Fedde for the “spot” start tomorrow to complete this two-game series against Baltimore.
