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Nats Receive Contributions From All Around
From left, Jesus Flores, pitching coach Randy St. Claire, Manager Manny Acta and Ryan Church celebrate a victory after two consecutive blowout losses.
(By Gregory Smith -- Associated Press)
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Initially, though, Church flailed against Braves starter Lance Cormier. By his own admission, he "tried to crush" an 0-2 curveball in his first at-bat and struck out. The next at-bat, Cormier threw the same pitch. Again, a strikeout.
His third chance was the most important. With the Braves leading 3-1 on the strength of Chipper Jones's two-run homer off Bergmann, Church came up with one out and runners on second and third in the sixth. He worked the count full. And he thought back to his previous at-bats.
"I knew he was going to throw it," he said. "It was funny. It took nine of 'em to freakin' finally get it. I was being stupid the first two at-bats."
He got the curveball, and he drove it to center, where it sailed out for the three-run homer that gave the Nationals their first lead of the series, 4-3. After Jimenez's double in the seventh made it 5-3, there was just one truly anxious moment.
That came in the bottom of the seventh. Right-hander Luis Ayala allowed two singles to start the inning, got two outs. With men on second and third, he faced Edgar Renteria. He missed with his first two pitches, then had a borderline fastball called outside for ball three. He looked disgusted at the call.
So here came Acta with a message. "If you lose your cool," Acta said, "then you're going to leave a pitch where you might want it back."
Ayala walked Renteria, loading the bases. That put Mu?oz in the game to turn around the switch-hitting Jones -- who might have won the game.
"In winter ball," he said, "I used to pitch in those situations."
So he treated it the same way. Two breaking balls to keep Jones off-balance, then a fastball away. He got Jones to ground it to short. "The out of the game," Acta said.
An out the Nationals badly needed in a game they needed just as much. When Jones hit the ball, Jimenez fielded it cleanly, flipping to second for the force play. They escaped the jam, won the game, and got out of Atlanta, staving off collapse yet again.
