When Patrick Corbin needed some more run support, Anthony Rendon took the 2-2 tie and in an instant made it 6-2 with a 412 foot grand slam that left his bat as a no-doubter at 105 mph into the leftfield stands in Section 105 of Nationals Park among the Nats faithful. Corbin who exited after he completed the top of the 6th inning in a tied game needed some runs in the bottom of the 6th to have a chance at a win otherwise it would have been a no-decision, and Rendon obliged. Corbin’s teammates came through as the Nats defeated the Braves to cut their lead in the NL East to 4.5 games.
“His hands are so quick,” manager Dave Martinez said of Rendon. “He puts himself in a position to hit every pitch, and when he’s like that 2-0 — you’ve got bases loaded, you don’t want to walk him. He got a pitch to hit, and he hit it far, loud and it was clutch.”
The Braves pitching was not good, but the Nationals hit into some really bad luck with only seven hits, but they worked an unbelievable ten walks and one hit-by-pitch. Juan Soto and Trea Turner knocked in the first two runs of the game, and it was Rendon with two outs in the 6th inning who smashed the grand slam to ice the game as the bullpen of Wander Suero, Fernando Rodney, and Sean Doolittle closed out the game with only one run scoring for a final score of 6-3.
For Patrick Corbin, he pitched better than his final line would indicate as both runs scored in innings where the defense uncharacteristically did not make some difficult plays, but Juan Soto saved a three run home run by Adam Duvall as the 20-year-old jumped above the wall in front of the visitor’s bullpen to rob Duvall of 3-runs that would have turned a Nationals 2-1 lead to a 4-2 deficit. Corbin had eight strikeouts and only gave up five hits and one walk while lowering his ERA to 3.23 on the season and earning his 9th win.
In the season series, the Nationals are now 6-4 against the Braves, and the Nationals took sole possession of the first Wild Card spot with this win.
