Nationals erupt late for victory
When Bryce Harper struck out in the first inning, he stomped back to the dugout and took three swings at the bat rack , shattering his bat and producing a trio of angry thuds that reverberated in the stands.
The Washington Nationals’ mood didn’t improve much until the eighth, when Wilmer Difo hit a game-tying homer off the foul pole, and they rallied to beat the Miami Marlins for the 10th consecutive time Saturday, 4-1.
Difo pounded his chest in celebration and skipped into the dugout, and his enthusiasm proved infectious. Justin Miller made his Nationals debut by pitching out of a jam in the bottom of the inning, and Mark Reynolds hit a tiebreaking homer leading off the ninth.
“All it takes sometimes is one swing to get a little energy in the club, and Difo did that for us today,” Reynolds said. “He got guys fired up.”
Miami’s Wei-Yin Chen took a two-hitter and a 1-0 lead into the eighth. He was especially dominant against Harper, who endured his first four-strikeout game since 2016.
Harper has 15 homers, but also a batting average of .231.
“He’ll snap out of it,” manager Dave Martinez said. “He’s fouling his pitches off. We’ve got to get him to slow down a little bit and take his walks, get on base and start having fun again.”
Chen departed after giving up the one-out homer to Difo, and Reynolds connected against Brad Ziegler (0-4). Pinch-hitter Matt Adams and Trea Turner each added an RBI single in the ninth.
“To come through when it’s clutch time – we’ve been doing that,” Nationals starter Tanner Roark said. “We showed it today.”
Roark allowed four hits and one run in seven innings. Sean Doolittle pitched a perfect ninth for his 11th save and second in as many days.
But perhaps the most important pitch thrown by the Nationals came from Miller (1-0). With the score tied, the Marlins had runners at second and third with one out in the eighth, but Miller came on to strike out Starlin Castro on three pitches to end the threat.
Milwaukee 17, N.Y. Mets: Erik Kratz homered in his Brewers debut and Jesus Aguilar also hit a home run to lift surging Milwaukee to a 17-6 rout of the New York Mets. Christian Yelich had three hits, drove in three runs and scored three times for the NL Central-leading Brewers.
Chic. White Sox 8, Detroit 4: Tim Anderson homered twice on his way to a career-high four RBIs, leading Hector Santiago and the Chicago White Sox to an 8-4 victory over the Detroit Tigers. Santiago allowed three runs, two earned, in five innings in his first win since May 9, 2017, for Minnesota against the White Sox.
Tampa Bay 5, Baltimore 1: Ryne Stanek, Anthony Banda and Chaz Roe combined to give up three hits on a bullpen day as the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Baltimore Orioles 5-1. With the Rays thin in the rotation, Banda entered with two outs in the second. He wound up allowing one run and three hits while striking out seven over 6 1/3 innings.
Texas 4, Kansas City 3: Shin-Soo Choo became the top major league home run hitter born in Asia, connecting for a leadoff drive in the 10th inning that lifted the Texas Rangers over the Kansas City Royals 4-3. Choo’s 176th career homer moved him past Hideki Matsui for the most by an Asian player.