The Washington Post - 07.08.2019

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 7 , 2019. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ M2 D3

HOW THEY SCORED NATIONALS FIRST Trea Turner walks. Gerardo Parra pops out. With An- thony Rendon batting, Trea Turner picked off, caught stealing second. Anthony Rendon walks. Juan Soto singles. Anthony Rendon to third. Kurt Suzuki singles, Juan Soto to third, Anthony Rendon scores. Brian Dozi- er lines out. Nationals 1, Giants 0 NATIONALS THIRD Trea Turner walks. Gerardo Parra singles. Trea Turner to third. Anthony Rendon out on a sacrifice fly, Trea Turner scores. With Juan Soto batting, Gerardo Parra steals second. Juan Soto grounds out. Gerardo Parra to third. Kurt Suzuki homers, Gerardo Parra scores. Brian Dozier strikes out swinging. Nationals 4, Giants 0 GIANTS THIRD Kevin Pillar singles. Brandon Crawford grounds out, Kevin Pillar scores. Conner Menez grounds out. Bran- don Belt grounds out. Nationals 4, Giants 1 NATIONALS FIFTH Trea Turner homers. Gerardo Parra strikes out swinging. Anthony Rendon pops out. Juan Soto flies out. Nationals 5, Giants 1 GIANTS SIXTH Pablo Sandoval pinch-hitting for Conner Menez. Pablo Sandoval doubles. Brandon Belt singles, Pablo Sandoval scores. Mike Yastrzemski flies out. Buster Posey walks. Brandon Belt to second. Stephen Vogt reaches on a fielder’s choice. Buster Posey out at second. Bran- don Belt to third. Evan Longoria grounds out. Nationals 5, Giants 2 GIANTS SEVENTH Scooter Gennett flies out. Kevin Pillar singles. Brandon Crawford grounds out. Kevin Pillar to second. Pablo Sandoval doubles, Kevin Pillar scores. Brandon Belt flies out. Nationals 5, Giants 3

Nationals 5, Giants 3 WASHINGTON AB RHBI BB SO AVG Turner ss........................221 120.285 Parra rf...........................412 001.249 Rendon 3b ......................210 110.315 Soto lf ............................401 000.285 Suzuki c..........................413 300.268 Dozier 2b ........................400 001.236 Adams 1b .......................400 000.241 Robles cf ........................401 001.239 Sanchez p.......................200 001.054 Stevenson ph .................100 001.313 Strickland p....................000 000--- Rodney p........................000 000--- Cabrera ph......................100 000.235 Doolittle p......................000 000.000 TOTALS 32 58 535 — SAN FRAN. AB RHBI BB SO AVG Belt 1b............................401 100.235 Yastrzemski rf ...............400 001.263 Posey c...........................301 010.259 Vogt lf ............................400 001.285 Longoria 3b ....................300 001.239 Gustave p.......................000 000--- Duggar ph.......................100 001.235 Jerez p............................000 000--- Gennett 2b .....................301 000.221 Solano ph .......................100 001.338 Pillar cf...........................423 000.245 Crawford ss....................400 101.223 Menez p.........................100 000.000 Sandoval ph-3b ..............312 101.271 TOTALS 35 38 317 — WASHINGTON.............. 103 010 000 —5 81 SAN FRAN. ................... 001 001 100 —3 81 E: Sanchez (2), Sandoval (6). LOB: Washington 4, San Francisco 6. 2B: Parra (11), Gennett (5), Pillar (28), Sandoval 2 (23). HR: Suzuki (12), off Menez; Turner (10), off Menez. RBI: Turner (29), Rendon (87), Suzuki 3 (43), Belt (39), Crawford (47), Sandoval (41). SB: Parra (6). CS: Turner (4). SF: Rendon. DP: San Francisco 2 (Longoria, Gennett, Belt), (Crawford, Gennett, Belt). WASHINGTON IPHRER BB SO NP ERA Sanchez ....................... 642113 87 3.67 Strickland ................... 121100 12 5.68 Rodney ........................ 110002 16 6.00 Doolittle ...................... 110002 19 2.81 SAN FRAN. IPHRER BB SO NP ERA Menez ......................... 665534 99 5.73 Gustave ....................... 210001 25 0.00 Jerez ............................ 110000 12 2.25 WP: Sanchez, (7-6); LP: Menez, (0-1); S: Doolittle, (25). T: 2 :45. A: 3 1,628 (41,915).

now p laying t here every day, a nd the h ope is that C abrera fills that void. Cabrera h as not a ppeared at first in 13 major league seasons. So there he was, working during practice, taking direction f rom coach Tim Bogar as he tried to scoop l ow throws out o f the d irt. “I’m going to be o n the b ench, play a couple games in every part of the infield,” Cabrera said once he arrived in the v isitors’ clubhouse. “ First, second, so I ’m going to wait f or my o pportunity and t ry t o help the t eam.” Washington h ad t o make two moves to make room f or C abrera on the 25- and 4 0-man rosters. The Nationals o ptioned infielder Adrián S anchez to Class A A Harrisburg and d esignated reliever Kyle Barraclough for assignment. B arraclough’s f uture with the organization i s uncertain. The 29-year-old r ight- hander will be placed on outright waivers, and e ach team will h ave three days to claim him. If he is not c laimed, he probably will be outrighted t o the Nationals’ minor league system. — J esse Dougherty

Excerpted from washingtonpost.com/nationals

Cabrera joins Nats, prepares for new role

Of everything on Asdrúbal Cabrera’s t o-do l ist — relocating his family, meeting n ew teammates, a cclimating a gain to the Washington Nationals — maybe the hardest task w as staring him down Tuesday afternoon. The Nationals w ant Cabrera t o learn how t o play f irst base. And they w ant him to l earn f ast. Washington o fficially s igned the 33-year-old infielder to a one-year deal before Tuesday’s game against t he San Francisco Giants at O racle Park. T he move c ame less than a week after h e was designated f or assignment b y the Te xas Rangers. The Nationals a dded Cabrera as needed infield depth, especially with Howie Kendrick and Ryan Zimmerman on the injured l ist. T hose absences also create a need for another first baseman, b ecause Matt A dams is

error helped them out, before trouble brewed in the sixth. The Nationals had a four-run cushion after Trea Turner ripped a solo shot, his 500th career hit, in the previous i nning. But that progress was erased when Pablo Sandoval led o ff w ith a double, Brandon Belt singled him in and Sánchez had three more o uts to get. He got a routine flyball to left, then issued his first walk, and t hat put runners on first and second. Suzuki stepped in front of the plate, turned his glove and right hand over and pushed them toward the ground while nodding his head. He w as telling Sánchez to calm down, b reathe, f ocus o n fool- ing the next batter with any of his six pitches. Sánchez listened by getting two groundouts, using 12 of his 87 pitches, and the danger was p ushed aside. Hunter Strickland gave up a run in the seventh — the first allowed by one of Washington’s new relievers — but the Giants’ last efforts ended there. Fernando Rodney and Sean Doolittle worked two scoreless innings to seal a second consecutive victory. And Suzuki’s fingerprints were all over it. [email protected]

catcher he has been paired with regularly in 12 seasons. Suzuki is also Sánchez’s full-time catcher, out there again with him Tuesday to pick t hrough t he G iants’ s ubpar order and keep Washington on track. Sánchez had a lead to protect right away b ecause Suzuki poked a high fastball into right field. An- thony Rendon had walked with two outs in the first, Juan Soto singled him to third against Gi- ants starter Conner Menez, and Suzuki punched Rendon in with his first hit. Then Sánchez cruised through two innings, Suzuki belt- ed a low-and-in slider for that two-run homer, and their final, shared objective was to minimize the b ullpen’s workload. The Giants got one off Sánchez in the third, after his throwing

pop. The Washington Nationals
went on to win, 5-3, and Suzuki’s
bat was t he biggest r eason.
The 35-year-old catcher put the
Nationals ahead with an RBI sin-
gle in the first. He lengthened
their lead with that two-run hom-
er in the third, his 12th of the
season, and finished with three
hits while knocking in three runs.
Aníbal Sánchez gave up two runs
(one earned) in an efficient six
innings. The bullpen was solid
again, giving up a run in three
innings, and now the Nationals
will play for a sweep of the Giants
here Wednesday.
When General Manager Mike
Rizzo signed Suzuki in November
to a two-year contract worth
$10 m illion, he e nvisioned a signif-
icant offensive upgrade behind
the p late. T hat plan was only solid-
ified when he traded for Yan
Gomes two weeks later. Last sea-
son, Matt Wieters, Spencer Kie-
boom and Pedro Severino com-
bined for 1 2 home runs and 55 R BI
in 627 plate appearances. Suzuki
hit that many homers on his own
in 388 plate appearances. Gomes
was an all-star with the Cleveland
Indians and one of the better hit-
ting catchers in the American
League.
But o nly o ne of t hem has c licked
this season. G omes has a .207 aver-
age and .327 slugging percentage,
and only recently has he seen an
uptick in production. Suzuki, on
the other hand, is exceeding ex-
pectations.
His offense has been a constant
while s tarting a l ittle less t han half
of the Nationals’ games behind the
plate. His third-inning homer al-
ready matched his 2018 total. He
now has 16 multi-hit games. He
seems to always hit the b all hard —
sometimes right at fielders, some-
times not — and yet that’s j ust one
layer of his significance to this
team.
Suzuki has become the regular
receiver for Max Scherzer, the Na-
tionals’ wounded ace, who had
been on a career-best tear before
injuring his shoulder in July.
Scherzer’s ERA pitching to Suzuki
is better than with any other

NATIONALS FROM D1

baseball

NATIONALS ON DECK

at San Francisco Giants

Today3:45 MASN2

at New York Mets

Fr iday7:10 MASN

Saturday7:10 MASN Sunday1:10 MASN

vs. Cincinnati Reds

Monday7:05 MASN2 Tuesday7:05 MASN2

Aug. 14 4:05 MASN2

Radio: WJFK (106.7 FM)

NATIONALS NOTES

BY DAVE SHEININ

baltimore — There are relief
pitchers who haven’t been in the
batter’s box in years walking
around the New York Yankees
clubhouse these days wearing
T-shirts with a four-word, all-caps
phrase superimposed over an out-
line of the strike zone: “SAVAGES
IN THAT BOX.”
The T-shirts miraculously ma-
terialized on the chests of the
Yankees players just 24 hours af-
ter Manager Aaron Boone’s infa-
mous tirade to umpire Brennan
Miller on July 18, in which he
uttered that very phrase — modi-
fied by a certain vulgar adjective
that starts with “f” and ends in
“ing” — to make the very specific
point that the team’s hitters are
relentless about their at-bats.
But in the days and weeks since,
the phrase has become an intrin-
sic piece of the Yankees’ identity —
defining not just their hitters’ ap-
proach in the batter’s box, but the
entire team’s m entality in the face
of a bizarre and unending rash of
injuries, their steely resolve in the
face of the front office’s failure to
acquire reinforcements at the
trade deadline and, not least of all,
their manager’s unrelenting,

infectious, upbeat demeanor. Aaron Boone, it is safe to say, is a savage in his positivity. “Very calm. Never panics. Al- ways a calm demeanor. Stays posi- tive,” Yankees left-hander James Paxton said. “If we have a rough stretch here and there, he has encouraging words. He’s been fantastic.... ‘Savages’ was perfect. It’s a really good, one-word de- scription of what this group is.” “We see ourselves like that, 100 percent,” said veteran lefty CC Sabathia, who is on the injured list because of a sore knee. “You can see we’re all wearing the T-shirts.” Monday’s snapshot of the Yan- kees, as they barreled into Cam- den Yards and pummeled the last- place Baltimore Orioles, 9-6, in the opener of a three-game series, told you just about all you needed to know about their season: At 74-39 following another win Tuesday, their games above .500 (35) just barely outpaces their cumulative number of trips to the injured list (32, by 25 different players) this season. They a re nine games ahead of second-place Ta mpa Bay in the AL East and 151 / 2 games ahead of third-place Bos- ton (17 games in the loss column),

from whom they swept a four- game series at Yankee Stadium over the weekend. The Yankees’ injured list grew by two over the w eekend, with the losses of first baseman/designated hitter Edwin Encarnación (broken wrist) and center fielder Aaron H icks (elbow strain), bring- ing its current population to 16, including seven former all-stars. Their best starting pitcher (Luis Severino) and top setup man (Del- lin Betances) have yet to pitch this season, and their cleanup hitter (Giancarlo Stanton) has played in just nine games and hit just one homer. On Sunday night, two more key Yankees were lost to injuries: Sec- ond baseman Gleyber To rres left the game because of what was described as a “core issue” — with the team sending him to the hos- pital for tests — and third baseman Gio Urshela was removed a few innings after fouling pitches off both legs. But Monday brought, of all things, good news. Neither player needed to go o n the IL, and To rres was even back in the lineup, going 0 for 5 at DH and thus sparing them the ignominious distinction of having every player in their

Opening Day lineup go on the IL at s ome point. (True: Opening Day starting pitcher Masahiro Ta naka also has not been on the IL, but he has been pitching with a torn elbow ligament.) It says something about the Yankees that the potential loss of Urshela — a former middling prospect and fringe big leaguer who is playing only because in- cumbent third baseman Miguel Andújar is out for the season — would be seen as a crippling blow, given his .882 on-base-plus-slugging percentage. But there is a certain savagery in the way the Yankees have risen above every new injury — pressed-into-duty reserves Mike Ford and Mike Ta uchman powered Monday night’s win — and a certain savagery i n the way Boone consistently turns the incessant injury talk around to praise the players who have stepped in. “I don’t think you can say enough,” Boone said Monday, “about the meaningful contribu- tions we’ve gotten from so many guys.” Boone’s savage positivity ex- tended to the days and hours following the July 31 trade deadline, when the front office essen-

tially stood pat — a shocking re- sult that bucked every expecta- tion across the industry, where the Yankees were viewed as major buyers for starting pitching. The team’s lack of a signature move stood in stark contrast to the Houston Astros, the team they are battling for supremacy in the AL, who added ace Zack Greinke to what was already one of the top rotations in the league. Rather than question his own front office and bemoan the state of his rotation, which put up a 6.18 ERA in July and still has major holes, Boone pronounced his team “ready to roll” with what it had. “We know we have everything we need to be a championship club,” he said. “Nothing changes there.” Two more months of this, and Boone, 46 and in his second year on the Yankees’ bench, may walk away w ith the AL’s m anager of the year award. It would be well-de- served — despite voters’ tradition- al preference for skippers of small-market teams that rise above modest expectations. Last year, for example, Bob Melvin, manager of the 97-win Oakland Athletics, won the award over

Alex Cora, who merely took the Red Sox to a franchise-record 108 wins as a rookie. But one key difference: Cora’s Red Sox never dealt with the sort of injuries the Yankees have. “A bsolutely,” Paxton said when asked about Boone’s award cre- dentials. “Our ace [Severino] hasn’t pitched all year. Giancarlo has barely played. Dellin Betanc- es, out all year. Some of our guys have been on the injured list mul- tiple times. And we’ve still found a way to put ourselves in the posi- tion we’re in. And a lot of that is because of [Boone’s] presence and the way he’s led this team.” There is plenty of credit to go around in this remarkable Yan- kees season, from the front office that found the players — including some, such as Urshela, off the game’s t rash heap — to the players who have done the heavy lifting on the field. But Boone, with no contriving and no false notes, gave the Yankees their T-shirt- worthy identity. They a re savages not only in the box, but also o n the mound, in the outfield gaps and, more times than they would prefer, even in the trainer’s room. [email protected]

Taking cues from Boone, Yankees are ‘savages’ in pursuit of a championship

Nationals earn battery-powered victory

BEN MARGOT/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Nationals catcher Kurt Suzuki homered, had three RBI and helped guide Aníbal Sánchez through six strong innings against the Giants.

BY PETER SCHMUCK

baltimore — The New York Yankees have spent much of this year’s season series p ounding the Baltimore Orioles into submis- sion and setting a major league record for home runs at an opposing ballpark, so the fact that they hit six more home runs Tuesday shouldn’t have come as much of a surprise. But on a dark and stormy night at Camden Yards, they not only struck like lightning, they also stole the Orioles’ thunder on their way to a 9-4 victory.

The Yankees made several flashy defensive plays and de- nied the Orioles enough key hits to make a fairly competitive game end up looking more like a blowout. The game was delayed for 72 minutes by freaky thunder- storms that drenched the down- town area, and the game re- mained scoreless for two innings before the Yankees opened up on Orioles starter Asher Wojciechowski with three homers in the third. The barrage started with another by No. 9 hitter Mike Tauch- man, who continued to give the Orioles fits after homering in his final two at-bats of Monday’s series opener. — Baltimore Sun

O’s yield six more HRs in loss

YANKEES 9, ORIOLES 4

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