Photo from Nationals Instagram
While some were ready to count the Nationals out on Tuesday, the team came back and won this series against the first place Minnesota Twins. Patrick Corbin did his job in this game and notched another win as he went 6.0 innings giving up 3-runs and exited with a 10-3 lead. That lead was in jeopardy in the 8th inning as reliever Aaron Barrett gave up 3-runs in 1/3 of an inning to make the score 10-6, but he also left a mess behind as the tying run was in the on-deck circle which prompted manager Dave Martinez to go to Fernando Rodney to put out the fire — which he did to retire Nelson Cruz with bases loaded.
The game ended with a 12-6 win, and due to the late start because of the rain delay, the Nationals will have to fly through the early hours of Friday morning. The Nationals plane should land at Dulles after 5 am, and the players should get back to their D.C. residences after 6 am.
Every Nats starter had at least one hit in this game except for Matt Adams who had to exit with an arm injury in his tricep to shoulder area. Adams will be evaluated tomorrow by doctors in D.C. The offensive stars of this game were Anthony Rendon and Juan Soto who both had big home runs, and Soto has now tied Tony Conigliaro with 56 home runs before turning 21 years old. Soto is now just five home runs away from tying Hall-of-Famer Mel Ott at 61 home runs.
With this Nats win, their overall record against teams over .500 is 38-44, but because April/May were so skewed if you look at them since May 23rd, the Nats are 25-21 against all teams currently over .500 after this win in Minnesota.
The Nationals improved to an 81-64 record which has now guaranteed that this team will have their 8th consecutive non-losing season.
