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In the 8th, Nationals Respond in Kind
Catcher Gary Bennett strokes a 2-run homer in the 2nd inning against the Braves, his 1st of the year. With the Nats down a run in the 8th, he hit a bases-loaded double for 5 RBI on the night.
(By Jonathan Newton -- The Washington Post)
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But Baerga couldn't pick the ball out of the dirt. "I should have had it," he said. That set up the big inning, keyed by Johnny Estrada's two-run single, one that scored three runs after center fielder Brad Wilkerson made an errant throw. When Hector Carrasco mercifully recorded the final out of the eighth, the Nationals had every right to be down. A night earlier, they blew a two-run lead in the eighth, leading to a 5-4 loss.
"But they said, 'This is not going to happen,' " Manager Frank Robinson said. "They're not going to win this game."
There was some discussion, upon their arrival back in the dugout, of the fact that Kolb was taking the mound for the Braves. "We know he's struggling," Carroll said. Not only has he lost his job as Atlanta's closer, but the Nationals rallied from a 3-1 deficit by scoring three runs off Kolb in the ninth inning back on April 12 -- a victory that sparked a five-game winning streak.
Kolb began the eighth by walking Wilkerson. After Carroll hit into a forceout, Guillen delivered a single. And almost as proof that what Bennett said was true -- that it seems to be somebody different every night -- Baerga atoned for his inability to scoop up Guzman's throw by ripping an RBI single, closing the gap to 6-4.
"I don't have any answers right now," Kolb said after the game.
Bennett did. After signing with the Nationals as a free agent in the offseason, he has given Robinson a capable backup to starter Brian Schneider. Robinson showed his confidence in Bennett when right-hander Kevin Gryboski relieved Kolb, intentionally walked Marlon Byrd, and Robinson left the right-handed hitting Bennett in with the game on the line anyway.
Gryboski fell behind 2-0, and Bennett took a strike. Bennett sent the next pitch -- a fastball on the outside part of the plate -- into the gap in right-center. Three runs scored. RFK rocked.
"It was a tremendous psychological win -- if there is such a thing," Robinson said.
If there is psychology involved in sitting in second place rather than last -- even in June -- then, indeed, there is such a thing as a tremendous psychological win. Bennett provided it with his bat. Guillen provided it with his vocal chords. And the Nationals headed into the series against the Marlins with momentum that, only minutes before, they seemed unlikely to have.
