Photo by Sol Tucker for TalkNats
The seven game losing streak is over, and Erick Fedde is 2-0 this season against the Dunedin Toronto Blue Jays. Just over two weeks ago, Riley Adams was traded to the Washington Nationals from those Blue Jays in the Brad Hand deal, and he was a triple shy of a cycle tonight in his first game against them. Adams gave his best Daniel Murphy version of ownage going 3-4 with a home run, double, single, and 3 RBIs. In Atlanta last week, Adams broke Statcast with his first career home run, and in this game he might have broken a few hearts in Toronto.
The game finished with many new faces in the victory receiving line, like Gabe Klobosits who closed out the game, Adams at catcher, and Lane Thomas in leftfield. Good for these players and taking advantage of the opportunities at-hand. In fact of the nine players who finished the game on the field for the Nats, only Juan Soto, Josh Bell, and Victor Robles were projected for the opening day lineup.
Photo by Sol Tucker for TalkNats
In this 12-6 win by the Nats, they got great production from Adams who went 3-4 with 3 RBIs, and Yadiel Hernandez went 2-3 with 3 RBIs also. It was Hernandez who put the first hit and run on Blue Jays’ starter Alek Manoah who was cruising until that point. Then the Nats finally had BABIP go their way and found the seams to sneak some balls through to break the game open.
There was a tense point in the game as reliever Mason Thompson loaded the bases with no outs in a tense 8th inning. Manager Dave Martinez went with the quick hook and went straight to his closer, Kyle Finnegan, to hold the lead. Thompson’s runners all scored but some of it was due to bad defense. Finnegan got the hold and kept the Nats lead at 8-6. The Jays were literally a home run away in that 8th inning from sticking the dagger in the Nats. But it was not meant to be for the team from Toronto. The Nats offense turned it on in the bottom of the inning to add four more runs to put the game away.
“I’ve told you guys before, it’s going to be a learning process,” Martinez said. “And we’re going to have some bumps and bruises along the way, but I can tell you one thing, they’re going to go out there and they’re going to compete every night, and you saw that tonight.”
With this win, the Nationals have a chance for a sweep in a series, something they have not done since June 30 when they swept the Tampa Bay Rays.
