Photo by Sol Tucker for TalkNats
The Washington Nationals have finally won three games in a row as Patrick Corbin delivered and pitched the team to 7.0 innings with a 7-2 lead behind the bat of Josh Bell who cashed in for 4 runs, and Yan Gomes delivered two via a home run.
“Hitters struggle, and so do pitchers,” manager Davey Martinez said. “They get in this little funk, and they’ve got to work some things out. You saw today that Patrick came out there and was really good.”
The team now waits for the outcome of the Phillies and Mets game to see if the Nats will get a share of first place on May 1st. They usually say you know the team you have in mid-May. The Nats finally got their best game from Bell and one of Corbin’s two good starts today. The team is still missing Juan Soto and Stephen Strasburg, so they are hovering near .500 with arguably missing the best hitter in baseball and a Top-1o pitch in the NL.
“We’re starting to see these guys really come around and doing the things that we know that they are capable of doing,” Martinez said.
This game was about solid starting pitching, good defense, and timely hitting. The Nats offense tallied 12 hits in the game and the seven runs. Every Nats starting position player had at least one hit except for Kyle Schwarber who only had two official at-bats due to a walk and a HBP. And that is fine from the player who handed the Nats another walk-off win the night before.
“We’re in a good place,” Bell said. “No matter who’s on the bump, no matter who’s in the lineup, it seems like we can score runs and keep runs off the board. It’s definitely a cool atmosphere showing up to work every day.”
This is the longest winning streak for the Nats this season at 3 consecutive wins. The team is now one game under .500 heading into tomorrow when Max Scherzer faces the Marlins best pitcher Trevor Rogers.
For the rest of the night, Nats fans can root on for a Phillies loss, and hope the Braves lose for further separation in the NL East.
