With CJ Abrams dealing with back spasms and Nasim Nunez cramping up in his legs, general manager Mike Rizzo had to make a roster change and called up Jose Tena who he just acquired less than two weeks ago as part of the Lane Thomas trade with the Cleveland Guardians.
With Tena’s ability to play shortstop, he was the right call at the time, even though Andres Chaparro has been destroying baseballs for that same Triple-A Rochester team that Tena just was called up from. Chaparro was just acquired minutes before the trade deadline in a deal with Arizona for Dylan Floro. As it turned out, Nunez was fine, and there was no damage to his leg muscle — and it was just cramps. Abrams, though, was out of the lineup again with back spasms, and Tena shifted to third base with Nunez playing shortstop.
For the third game in a row, the Washington Nationals were headed to extra innings, and a chance for back-to-back walk-off wins. The hero on Friday night was Alex Call with a walk-off hit. Who would be the hero on Saturday night?
This time the heroes were Derek Law for holding the Angels to no runs in the 9th and 10th innings to keep the game knotted, and Tena, who stepped into the batter’s box with his manager, Dave Martinez, telling him a message:
“Manager had told me that I was going to win the game for us,” Tena said through an interpreter to the media. “Once I realized the hit was a game-winning one, I gave him a wink.”
Manager? Did Tena forget Martinez’s name. That’s the odd part of all of this. Tena really did not meet his teammates, and Law admitted after the game that he had not met him until the walk-off celebration.
Tena, 23, who is a native of the Dominican Republic had a brief MLB history of just 21-games before last night. He finished his Cleveland tenure with a Mendoza .200 batting average and just a .520 OPS. He didn’t figure into Cleveland’s future so they made him a part of the Thomas trade along with with Rafael Ramirez Jr., and LHP Alex Clemmey who was the headliner of the trade.
On this day as fans were watching Clemmey make his home debut in Single-A Fredericksburg, it was Tena on the big league stage. Yes, Clemmey did great in his home debut, and we had Sol Tucker covering that game.
As things are looking, Rizzo might have fleeced the Guardians in the Thomas trade — but time will tell. Obviously, Guardians fans quickly caught on to what Clemmey and Tena have been doing, and Thomas is in a big time slump with Cleveland.
As you never know in baseball. New heroes are minted all the time. Tena is the Nats’ new hero. They say that chances are few in baseball, and that was apparent with Cleveland after they moved on from Tena.
While Tena was only credited with a walk-off single, he was a few feet from an oppo walk-off homer. The fastball he hit had an exit velo of 102.2 mph and traveled 384 feet. The baseball ricocheted off of the wall in front of the visitor’s bullpen, literally feet from his first MLB home run.
“I think his teammates know who he is now,” Martinez said.
On the night, Tena had two RBI hits, and will forever be etched in Nationals’ lore for his debut walk-off hit. That’s how you introduce yourself to your co-workers.
