Nationals vs. White Sox: Washington perseveres in 14 innings for 12th win in 13 games

Friday night, the Washington Nationals found themselves in stunning situations they wanted to avoid, and, well, they had experience with that. They squandered three leads — one in the ninth inning, one in the 10th, and yet another in the 12th, when one more strike would have mercifully ended two bizarre days. The hottest team in baseball discarded those setbacks as easily as it had discarded the stunning resignation of their manager a day before.

If the Nationals did not fold in their 9-5, 14-inning marathon victory over the Chicago White Sox at U.S. Cellular Field, then when will they? By the end, interim manager John McLaren was watching from the clubhouse, their bullpen was barren and their nerves, presumably, were shot. But the day after Jim Riggleman’s surreal resignation, the Nationals somehow left with their 12th victory in 13 games, their record two games above .500.

Loading...

Comments

• Weigh In
• Corrections?

Personal Post

More on this Story

• Nationals appear to have their man in D. Johnson
• Reid: An inevitable departure, moved up
• Photos: A look at Davey Johnson’s career
• Resilient Nats outlast White Sox in 14 innings

View all Items in this Story

• Box score: Nationals 9, White Sox 5 (14)
• Bog: Riggleman unloads on Boswell
• The resignation: Communication breakdown

“Baseball’s a weird thing,” said starter Jordan Zimmermann, who shut the White Sox out for seven innings. “There’s highs and lows. And I think we hit about every high and every low you could have tonight.”

When Collin Balester came into the game in the 13th inning, McLaren having been ejected four innings previous, he didn’t know who was managing his team. “I thought I was going to manage,” Ryan Zimmerman joked. The truth was, the Nationals didn’t really have a manager. Third base coach Bo Porter gave signs, and the rest of the coaches worked together in the dugout.

“That’s as much intensity as I’ve seen in the game in 24 years,” McLaren said. “It was incredible, the passion they had and the will to win.”

Brian Bixler — a reserve who was in the game only because of Jerry Hairston’s ejection and who had already hit an RBI double in the 12th — sparked the Nationals’ final extra-inning rally with pure hustle. He smacked a groundball to the left side against Matt Thornton with two outs in the top of the 14th, and when he broke his bat, he realized he had a chance.

Bixler bolted down the line and beat shortstop Alexei Ramirez’s throw by a step. He then stole second base on Thornton, followed by Ian Desmond’s chopper to shortstop. Ramirez charged and rushed his throw, which skipped over Mark Teahan’s glove.

Bixler raced home with the go-ahead run, and this time the Nationals made sure their bullpen would be able to hold the lead. An intentional walk followed by consecutive hits, including a two-run double that made Ryan Zimmerman 1 for 7, put the Nationals ahead by four.

As their front office put the finishing touches on making Davey Johnson their next manager, the Nationals won for the 17th time in 23 games. The list of heroes in a game they esstenially had to win three times was as long as the box score.

Zimmermann pitched seven sterling innings, lowering his ERA to 2.85 with the seventh consecutive start in which he allowed two runs or fewer. Roger Bernadina made an unreal catch to rob former National Adam Dunn of a two-run home run. Michael Morse’s two-homer in the eighth off Brian Bruney — another ex-National — seemed at the time to be all Washington would need. Laynce Nix hit a 10th-inning home run. Balester pitched scoreless 13th and 14th innings.