MONDAY, APRIL 25 , 2022. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ SU D5
homer in the third inning. Ryan
Mountcastle had an RBI single in
the seventh before Austin Hays
tied it with a two-run drive to left
off Austin Warren (2-0).
“I’m really happy with what we
did being down 6-0. We got a
couple of big homers that we ha-
ven’t h ad, which w as nice,” Orioles
Manager Brandon Hyde said.
Baltimore starter Chris Ellis
faced five batters — w alking three,
hitting o ne with a pitch a nd allow-
ing a two-run single to Jared
Walsh — before departing with
right shoulder discomfort.
— Associated Pressopened some eyes this series,”
Adell said. “But I’m glad we were
able to avoid that full sweep and
kind of get back on the winning
side of things and keep it rolling.”
Adell was a late addition to the
lineup after Brandon Marsh was
scratched with a stomach bug. He
greeted Travis Lakins Sr. with his
second career slam to make it 6-0
before the Orioles recorded an out.
Lakins got the next nine outs
without allowing a hit, and Kee-
gan Akin followed with two score-
less innings, giving Baltimore an
opportunity to rally.
Trey Mancini hit a three-runpared to “a root canal.”
“It wasn’t necessarily pleasur-
able. It started out well, but then
we just couldn’t get t hat hit,” Mad-
don said. “They kept f ighting b ack,
but w e hung in there u ntil the very
end.”
Jo A dell hit a grand s lam to give
Los Angeles an early advantage.
Shohei Ohtani singled in the sev-
enth inning and scored the go-
ahead r un on a b ases-loaded w alk.
The Angels drew nine walks off
six Baltimore pitchers and were
hit by pitches twice, but the re-
building Orioles hung tough.
“They definitely came in andBY JOE REEDYanaheim, calif. — Leave it to
Los Angeles Angels Manager Joe
Maddon to come up with the per-
fect assessment of his team’s 7-6
win over the Baltimore Orioles.
The Angels led 6-0 in the first
inning but allowed the Orioles to
tie the game before hanging on to
avoid a sweep in the weekend se-
ries, an experience Maddon com-
Baltimore’s rally, chance for sweep fall just short
ANGELS 7,
ORIOLES 6PHOTOS BY KATHERINE FREY/THE WASHINGTON POSTLane Thomas slides and is safe at second as Giants shortstop Thairo Estrada can’t come up with the throw. The Nats have lost five straight.
BY JENNA FRYERtalladega, a la. — R oss Chastain
surveyed his situation on the final
lap at Talladega Superspeedway
and decided his best strategy was
to stay right where he was and not
make a move for the win.
It got him to Victory Lane.
Chastain stole the win Sunday
when leader Erik Jones moved out
of his way to defensively block
reigning NASCAR Cup Series
champion Kyle Larson. It cleared
the l ane for Chastain, who pointed
his Chevrolet straight, slipped
past Jones and collected his sec-
ond career Cup victory.
“Holy cow! We didn’t do any-
thing! We just stayed d own there!”
Chastain screamed over his radio.
The race was Jones’s to control
on the final lap, and he knew
Larson w ould make a m ove f or the
win. Larson waited until they w ere
exiting the f inal turn; in h indsight,
Jones said he should have let him
go and stayed put with Chastain
on his bumper.
“Looking back, I wish I would
have stayed on the bottom and let
[Chastain] push me,” Jones said.
“It is what i t is. You’re t rying to just
win t he r ace. You can only see h ow
much is going on from the seat.
You’re trying to make the best
decision you can the last
1,500 feet.”
Chastain, whose first win was
last month at C ircuit of the A meri-
cas, said he’s usually the driver
who makes the wrong moves on
superspeedways such as Ta llade-
ga.
“I’m always the one going to the
top early and making the mistake,
and there at the end, it was like
eight to go, and I was like, ‘I’m not
going up there again,’ ” he said. “I
did that a couple of times. I was
like: ‘I’ll just ride on the bottom.
I’m not going to lose the race for
us.’
“I have no idea. They just kept
going up. They just kept moving
out of the way.”
The eighth-generation water-
melon farmer from Florida
climbed out of his winning Track-
House Racing entry through the
open roof flaps and smashed a
watermelon from the roof of the
Chevy in celebration.
Chastain is locked into the p lay-off with TrackHouse, a second-
year team owned by former driver
Justin Marks and musical artist
Pitbull. He never imagined so
much success in his first season
with the team.
“A re you kidding me? I’ve
wrecked myself so many times a nd
gotten into it with guys,” Chastain
said. “Justin Marks and what he
laid out f or us was ambitious. I had
no idea w hat to expect o ther than I
knew I had my group from last
year. [Sponsors are] believing in
us. We s tarted the y ear with a lot of
races open [for funding]. We’re
almost full now, and i t’s because of
the vision of Justin Marks.”
Austin Dillon finished second
for Richard Childress Racing in a
one-two sweep for Chevrolet,
while Kyle Busch was third in a
To yota for Joe Gibbs Racing.
Larson wound up fourth for
Hendrick Motorsports, followed
by JGR driver M artin Truex Jr. and
then finally Jones. Michael Mc-
Dowell in eighth was the highest-
finishing Ford.
“It’s typical here. Been close
here so many times,” Jones said.
Larson was similarly disap-
pointed, saying Sunday was the
first time he has ever been in con-
tention to win on a superspeed-
way.
“Honestly the first time I’ve had
a legit shot at winning a plate race
in the Cup series, so happy about
that,” Larson said. “But when you
are that close — and I was in the
exact position I wanted to be in; I
didn’t want to be leading — I feel
like I did a good job with patience
and stuff. Just made one small
mistake there, and it cost me one.”
Roger Penske was at the track
seeking a second Te am Penske su-
perspeedway victory this season
but saw three of his cars collected
in one crash.
Joey Logano was in the third
row o n a restart during the s econd
stage and not even up to full s peed
when Bubba Wallace knocked him
out of line and into the outside
wall. Logano’s car then shot back
down into the field, and team-
mates Austin C indric, the D aytona
500 winner, and Harrison Burton,
who drives for Penske affiliate the
Wood Brothers, w ere among t hose
collected in the eight-car crash.
— Associated PressNASCARChastain’s patience payswith victory at TalladegaASSOCIATED PRESSPatrick Cantlay and Xander
Schauffele held off Sam Burns
and Billy Horschel by two strokes
Sunday in the Zurich Classic of
New Orleans to complete a re-
cord-setting, wire-to-wire victo-
ry.
Cantlay and Schauffele closed
with an even-par 72 in late
afternoon showers in the alter-
nate-shot final round to finish at
29-under 2 59 at b reezy TPC L oui-
siana in Avondale.
The Ryder Cup and Presidents
Cup partners broke the tourna-
ment record of 27 under set by
Kevin Kisner-Scott Brown and
Jonas Blixt-Cameron Smith in- Cantlay and Schauffele are
the first wire-to-wire winners
since the tournament adopted
the team format.
“It was a great week,” Cantlay
said. “Second time we’ve played
this event, and we were looking
forward to it since last year. We
really always enjoy being with
each other, both on and off the
golf course, and we both played
exceptional this week and had a
great time doing it.”
Cantlay and Schauffele
opened with a record 59 in
best-ball play T hursday, s hot a 68
on Friday in alternate shot and
had a 60 in best ball Saturday
to shatter the tournament
5 4-hole record and open a five-
shot lead.
Burns, the local favorite who
played at LSU, and Horschel
closed with a 68. Doc Redman
and Sam Ryder were third at
24 under after a 67.
“Sort of sucks like that once in
a while when you feel good and
you’re trying to chase down some
leaders, but sometimes you just
can’t make it happen, and that’s
what it was for us on the last six
holes,” Horschel said.
Cantlay, the defending FedEx
Cup champion and PGA To ur
player of the year, won his sev-
enth tour title and first since the
To ur Championship in Septem-
ber. He won a week after losing a
playoff to Jordan Spieth in the
Heritage.
Schauffele won for the fifth
time. He last won at the 2019
To urnament of Champions.
Cantlay and Schauffele eagled
the par-5 seventh, with Cantlay
hitting a 254-yard second shot to
set up Schauffele a seven-foot
putt.
“[Cantlay] hit an unbelievable
shot into seven,” Schauffele said.
“It was a pretty thing to see from
my angle in the fairway. It jump-
started the round.”
After missing a three-foot
birdie putt on the short par- 4
eighth, Schauffele missed the
greens on the ninth and
10th holes, leading to consecu-
tive bogeys, and the five-shot
lead was down to one.
“I feel like those bogeys were
pretty much my fault, put [Cant-
lay] in bad spots with an 8-iron
and wedge in hand,” Schauffele
said. “We weren’t really too wor-
ried about where everyone else
was at, just trying to focus on
what we do best.”
Cantlay and Schauffele re-
bounded with a three-foot birdie
putt on the 11th and followed
with six consecutive birdies be-
fore bogeying the par-5 closing
hole.
Burns and Horschel pulled
within one after birdieing Nos. 8,
10 and 11. But Burns’s tee shot on
the short par-4 16th found the
water, and a bogey on the par-3
17 th left them three behind.
l LPGA TOUR: Nasa Hataoka
ran away with the LA Open a t
Wilshire Country Club to open
the tour’s two-week run in the
Los Angeles area.
Four strokes ahead entering
the round after Jin Young Ko’s
late meltdown Saturday, Hatao-
ka closed with a 4-under 67 for a
five-stroke victory over Hannah
Green.
Hataoka, 23, finished at
1 5-under 269, a stroke off the
tournament record set last year
by Brooke Henderson.
l PGA CHAMPIONS TOUR:
Scott Parel two-putted for a bird-
ie on the par-5 18th hole for a
6-under 65, then won the inau-
gural ClubCorp Classic with a
par on the same hole in a playoff
for his second tour title.
Parel won a three-man playoff
at Las Colinas in Irving, Te x.,
over Steven Alker and Gene Sau-
ers, who both went into the
hazard and failed to make par.GOLF ROUNDUPCantlay and Schau≠eleclaim wire-to-wire winpitchers in the future. Thomas
batted seventh and went 1 for 4.Up next
After the Nationals’ first
scheduled day off this season
Monday, Josiah Gray is set to
start Tuesday, followed by Erick
Fedde on Wednesday. Thursday’s
starting pitcher hasn’t been de-
cided but probably will be Pat-
rick Corbin on an extra day of
rest or Aaron Sanchez, whom
Martinez said he wanted to get
another start, on normal rest.Giants 12, Nationals 3
GIANTS AB RHBIBBSO AVG
Pederson rf..................... 333300 .364
Slater ph-rf.................... 201200 .214
Belt 1b............................ 512111 .236
Ruf lf.............................. 401011 .172
Dubón pr-cf.................... 110000 .150
Crawford ss.................... 421000 .246
Flores dh......................... 513301 .283
González cf-lf................. 511201 .222
Estrada 2b...................... 311111 .259
Vosler 3b........................ 512000 .333
Bart c.............................. 310012 .171
TOTALS 401215 12 47 —
NATIONALS AB RHBIBBSO AVG
C.Hernandez 2b.............. 402000 .247
Soto rf............................ 400000 .242
Cruz dh........................... 310011 .169
Ruiz c.............................. 312000 .264
Y.Hernandez lf............... 412301 .333
Franco 1b-3b.................. 400000 .262
Thomas cf....................... 401001 .200
Escobar ss...................... 400001 .132
Fox 3b............................. 000000 .000
Adams 1b....................... 300003 .118
TOTALS 33 37317 —
SAN FRAN.............. 220 010 106 —1 2151
WASHINGTON........ 102 000 000 —370
E: Crawford (2). LOB: San Francisco 9, Washington 5.
2B: Crawford (4), Pederson (2), Ruiz (4), C.Hernandez
(4). 3B: Belt (1). HR: Pederson (4), off Adon; Pederson
(5), off Voth; Y.Hernandez (1), off Webb. RBI: Pederson
3 (8), Flores 3 (8), Belt (9), González 2 (3), Estrada
(10), Slater 2 (6), Y.Hernandez 3 (6). SB: Thomas (1).
SF: Pederson, Estrada.
GIANTS IP HRERBBSONPERA
Webb ........................ 62 / 3 7331698 2.96
Álvarez........................^1 / 3 0000042 .45
T.Rogers...................... 10000192 .08
Littell........................... 10000011 0.00
NATIONALS IP HRERBBSONPERA
Adon ............................ 46551370 6.98
J.Rogers......................^2 / 3 1000011 4.91
Arano........................ 11 / 3 1000217 2.00
Voth............................. 11110119 7.04
Machado...................... 11001118 3.24
Clay.............................^1 / 3 0332019 12.0
Cishek.........................^1 / 3 3330019 8.53
Espino.........................^1 / 3 2000083 .72
WP: Webb (2-1); LP: Adon (1-3). Inherited runners-
scored: Álvarez 1-0, J.Rogers 1-0, Arano 2-1, Cishek
3-3, Espino 3-2. HBP: T.Rogers (Ruiz), Clay (Crawford),
Cishek (Bart). WP: Adon. T: 3:19. A: 26,003 (41,339).
HOW THEY SCORED
GIANTS FIRST
Joc Pederson homers. Brandon Belt flies out. Darin Ruf
strikes out swinging. Brandon Crawford doubles.
Wilmer Flores singles, Brandon Crawford scores. Luis
Gonzalez strikes out swinging.
Giants 2, Nationals 0
NATIONALS FIRST
Cesar Hernandez grounds out. Juan Soto grounds out.
Nelson Cruz walks. Keibert Ruiz singles. Nelson Cruz to
second. Yadiel Hernandez singles, Keibert Ruiz to sec-
ond, Nelson Cruz scores. Maikel Franco grounds out.
Giants 2, Nationals 1
GIANTS SECOND
Thairo Estrada singles. Jason Vosler lines out. Joey
Bart walks. Thairo Estrada to second. Joc Pederson out
on a sacrifice fly, Joey Bart to third, Thairo Estrada
scores. Brandon Belt triples, Joey Bart scores. Darin
Ruf grounds out.
Giants 4, Nationals 1
NATIONALS THIRD
Juan Soto grounds out. Nelson Cruz pops out. Keibert
Ruiz doubles. Yadiel Hernandez homers, Keibert Ruiz
scores. Maikel Franco grounds out.
Giants 4, Nationals 3
GIANTS FIFTH
Joc Pederson doubles. Brandon Belt lines out. Darin Ruf
singles. Joc Pederson to third. Brandon Crawford pops
out. Wilmer Flores singles, Darin Ruf to second, Joc
Pederson scores. Luis Gonzalez grounds out.
Giants 5, Nationals 3
GIANTS SEVENTH
Joc Pederson homers. Brandon Belt strikes out swing-
ing. Darin Ruf flies out. Brandon Crawford lines out.
Giants 6, Nationals 3
GIANTS NINTH
Austin Slater pinch-hitting for Joc Pederson. Austin
Slater grounds out. Brandon Belt walks. Darin Ruf
walks. Brandon Belt to second. Brandon Crawford hit by
pitch. Mauricio Dubon to second. Brandon Belt to third.
Wilmer Flores singles, Brandon Crawford to second,
Mauricio Dubon to third, Brandon Belt scores. Luis Gon-
zalez singles, Wilmer Flores to third, Brandon Crawford
scores, Mauricio Dubon scores. Thairo Estrada out on a
sacrifice fly, Wilmer Flores scores. Jason Vosler singles
to right field. Luis Gonzalez to third. Joey Bart hit by
pitch. Jason Vosler to second. Austin Slater pinch-hit-
ting for Joc Pederson. Austin Slater singles, Joey Bart
to second, Jason Vosler scores, Luis Gonzalez scores.
Brandon Belt singles. Austin Slater to second. Joey
Bart to third. Mauricio Dubon pinch-running for Darin
Ruf. Mauricio Dubon flies out.
Giants 12, Nationals 3starting pitching’s not going
deeper in games, but they under-
stand their role and they’re
ready,” Martinez said of his bull-
pen.
Here’s w hat else to know about
the Nationals’ loss:Hernandez shines
Y adiel Hernandez, who has
platooned in left field, drove in
all of the Nationals’ runs. In the
first inning, his single to center
brought home Nelson Cruz. In
the third, his two-run homer
traveled 397 feet into the visitors’
bullpen to get the Nationals
within 4-3.
Hernandez has played in just
10 games this season, but he has
made the most of his opportuni-
ties. With two more hits Sunday,
he increased his batting average
to .333.
“I know my role on this team,
and I know I’m not going to play
that often,” he said through an
interpreter. “So when I do, I have
to be ready.”Lineup chatter
A day after putting Lane
Thomas first in the order, Marti-
nez moved César Hernández
back into the leadoff spot.
Hernández had two hits Sunday
in his normal spot, but Martinez
said he will consider batting
Thomas first against left-handed“He told me pretty last second
there was a pretty good chance
that I might sneak in there,”
Adams said. “Obviously, it was
one or two pitches in and I had to
go i n, but I’ve b een trying my b est
to work over there, get reps in,
talk to [Bell], talk to [third base
coach Gary DiSarcina], talk to
[Bogar].”
This was exactly what Marti-
nez didn’t want to happen; be-
fore the game, h e had s aid A dams
would be used at first base only
in an emergency as he worked
with Di Sarcina and Bogar on
getting more comfortable there.
“That was an emergency,”
Martinez said before a quick
laugh.
All of that left Martinez with
two position players on his
bench: Bell and outfielder Victor
Robles. Martinez said Bell’s MRI
exam from the night before came
back “pretty clean,” and while
Bell could pinch-hit if needed, he
didn’t w ant him to play first base.
Robles was dealing with a minor
groin injury, so he wasn’t fully
available, either.
Martinez and his staff had
discussed calling up an extra
hitter with Bell possibly out but
ultimately chose not to.
The addition of the designated
hitter in the National League has
changed how Martinez ap-
proaches his roster. This past
week, he said it would have been
tough to play with three position
players in the old setup because
of the moves you have to make
with the pitcher’s spot in the
batting order. But with the DH in
place, h e has been able to keep an
extra arm in the bullpen.
That bullpen logged 17 innings
in the three-game series, includ-
ing five Sunday after starter Joan
Adon gave up five runs in four-
plus innings. Adon allowed a
leadoff home run to Joc Pederson
moments after Fox exited. Peder-
son hit another solo shot against
Austin Voth in the seventh, and
the Giants scored six times in the
ninth against Sam Clay, Steve
Cishek and Paolo Espino to end
any hope the Nationals may have
had.
On Sunday alone, the Nation-
als n eeded seven r elievers. Marti-
nez used 12 different arms out of
the bullpen over the three games
— including Patrick Murphy,
who was designated for assign-
ment Saturday, and Josh Rogers,
who recorded two o uts Sunday in
his first relief appearance after
three starts.
“It’s unfortunate that our
NATIONALS FROM D1
With depleted bench, Nats are swept by the Giants
NATIONALS ON DECKvs. Miami MarlinsTomorrow 7:05 MASN2
Wednesday7:05 MASN2Thursday1:05 MASN2at San Francisco GiantsFriday10:15 Apple TV PlusSaturday4:05 MASN2
Sunday4:05 MASN2at Colorado RockiesMay 38:40 MASN2
May 48:40 MASN2May 53:10 YouTubeRadio: WJFK (106.7 FM)Nationals third baseman Lucius Fox departs after becoming sick at
the start of the series finale against the Giants at Nationals Park.