Photo by Sol Tucker for TalkNatsThe Washington Nationals five-game losing streak is over in dramatic fashion as one of the new guys, Riley Adams, in the ninth inning crushed the go-ahead 2-run home run into the upper deck of Truist Park. It turned out to be a game winner as the Nats handed Will Smith a blown save in this one.
Starter Josiah Gray pitched a 10 K beauty in 5.0 innings of work giving up 1 earned run in this one. He had swing and miss stuff working all night. In the end, he induced 20 Braves swing and misses over his 5.0 innings. Many came on a spiked slider in the dirt and most on his curveball.
All together, the Nats bullpen added 5 strikeouts to give the team 15 on the night, and on this night Kyle Finnegan earned the save in a perfect 9th inning.
Most of the night the Nats were frustrated in a game where the ball wasn’t carrying. Yadiel Hernandez thought he had a 3-run homer in the 8th inning on an oppo flyball that died on the warning track.
The ninth inning rally was with two outs by Adams who hit his first career home run and the first hit of his new Nats career. Riley was acquired through the Brad Hand trade with the Toronto Blue Jays.
“We knew he had big power,” manager Dave Martinez said. “He got a pitch up that he could handle and smoked it.”
Déjà vu of sorts, the Nats hung a blown save on Smith on Opening Day when Juan Soto hit a walk-off single in Nats Park.
