TUESDAY, AUGUST 20 , 2019. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ M2 D3
good measure, and that gave
Washington a franchise-record 16
homers in its past three games.
The Nationals’ 43 runs in their
past three games are the highest
three-game total in baseball this
season and a club record. Their 62
runs in their past five are the
highest five-game total of the year
and the most since a stretch by the
New York Yankees in 2007. If
Washington’s hitters are benefit-
ing from a fluky ball — and to some
measure they are — they are doing
so better than any other team right
now.
Just ask the Pirates. Or ask
those fans on the bridge if they
could hear the noise.
[email protected]nings, three hits, no walks, two
strikeouts and a very big bruise.
X-rays were negative on Ross’s
shin after the game. Martinez
characterized it as a “contusion”
and added that Ross will be fur-
ther evaluated Tuesday morning.
Ross has made a strong case to
remain in the rotation instead of
Erick Fedde once Max Scherzer
returns, but his health could make
the decision simpler. Javy Guerra
relieved him Monday and set
down all 10 batters he faced.
“It looks pretty sore, but I’ll be
all right,” Ross said. “I wish I could
have stayed in the game, but it
wasn’t looking very likely.”
This all comes amid leaguewide
debate about “juiced” baseballs.
Home runs are flying out more
than ever. There were 313 in the
past week alone, the most ever
between a Monday and a Sunday,
and 301 in the week before that.
But that doesn’t take away from
how well the Nationals are swing-
ing. All that matters in the end,
and in the pennant race, are that
runs and wins pile up.
Eaton smacked his 11th home
run of the season and now has one
in three consecutive games and
four of the past five. Adams
reached 20 in his 59th start. Tur-
ner is up to 13 despite missing six
weeks with a broken right index
finger. Asdrúbal Cabrera crushed
a two-run homer in the ninth forstarting for the Nationals, was
cruising until a come-backer
struck his right shin.
Ross exited in the fourth, the
reason it wasn’t all good for the
Nationals on Monday. Pirates first
baseman Josh Bell ripped a sinker
right back at the 26-year-old right-
hander. After it caught him below
the right knee, Ross skipped in
front of the mound to make a play.
Ross retired the first eight batters
he faced and was well into a fourth
consecutive strong outing. His fi-
nal, shortened line was 3^1 / 3 in-kind of feed off each other.”
Matt Adams added a two-run
blast later in the first to make it
4-0. He then jumped onto the back
of Ali Modami, the Nationals’ ace
batting practice pitcher, and Mo-
dami ran them through the dance
line. Trea Turner cracked a three-
run shot in the second — 419 feet
to left — and bent to a knee while
pointing to the sky, reminiscent of
sprinter Usain Bolt. The Nationals
kept growing their lead, up to 8-0
by the end of the second and 11-0
after the fourth. And Joe Ross,Nationals 13, Pirates 0
WASHINGTON ABRH BI BB SO AVG
Turner ss........................ 4 1 2 3 0 0 .294
Sanchez ss ..................... 1 0 0 0 0 0 .214
Eaton rf .......................... 4 2 1 1 1 1 .289
Rendon 3b ...................... 5 1 1 0 0 2 .317
Soto lf ............................ 4 4 4 0 1 0 .293
A.Cabrera 2b .................. 3 2 2 5 1 0 .379
Adams 1b ....................... 5 1 3 4 0 2 .251
Robles cf ........................ 4 0 1 0 0 1 .252
Gomes c ......................... 4 1 1 0 1 2 .210
Ross p ............................ 3 1 0 0 0 1 .154
Guerra p ......................... 1 0 0 0 0 1 .000
McGowin p ..................... 0 0 0 0 0 0 .333
Parra ph ......................... 1 0 0 0 0 1 .273
Rainey p ......................... 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
TOTALS 39 13 15 13 4 11 —
PITTSBURGH ABRH BI BB SO AVG
Frazier 2b ....................... 4 0 0 0 0 1 .262
Reynolds lf ..................... 3 0 1 0 1 0 .326
Marte cf ......................... 2 0 0 0 0 0 .291
Stratton p ...................... 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Crick p ............................ 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---
Kela p ............................. 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---
Brault ph ........................ 1 0 0 0 0 0 .333
Feliz p............................. 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---
Liriano p ......................... 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.00
González ph ................... 1 0 1 0 0 0 .194
Bell 1b ............................ 4 0 1 0 0 0 .280
Moran 3b........................ 4 0 0 0 0 1 .279
M.Cabrera rf................... 3 0 0 0 0 0 .278
Newman ss .................... 3 0 0 0 0 1 .301
Díaz c.............................. 1 0 0 0 0 0 .248
Stallings c ...................... 1 0 0 0 1 0 .263
Williams p...................... 0 0 0 0 0 0 .208
DuRapau p...................... 1 0 1 0 0 0 .250
Reyes cf ......................... 2 0 0 0 0 1 .171
TOTALS 30 0 4 0 2 4 —
WASH.................... 440 300 002 — 13 15 0
PITT. ...................... 000 000 000 — 0 4 1
E: Díaz (11). LOB: Washington 5, Pittsburgh 5. 2B: Ren-
don (33), Adams 2 (13), Soto 2 (20), A.Cabrera (5),
Gomes (9), Reynolds (26). HR: Eaton (11), off Williams;
Adams (20), off Williams; Turner (13), off Williams;
A.Cabrera (1), off Liriano. RBI: Eaton (39), A.Cabrera 5
(10), Adams 4 (56), Turner 3 (41). SF: A.Cabrera.
DP: Washington 1 (Rendon, Turner, Adams); Pittsburgh
2 (Frazier, Newman, Bell; Frazier, Newman, Bell).
WASH. IP HR ERBB SO NP ERA
Ross ......................3.1 30 0 0 2 58 5.48
Guerra ..................3.2 00 0 0 1 43 5.09
McGowin..................1 00 0 1 0 23 10.1
Rainey ......................1 10 0 1 1 19 3.98
PITT. IP HR ER BB SO NP ERA
Williams ............... 2 68 6 3 1 64 5.65
DuRapau ................ 2 43 3 1 4 48 7.56
Stratton................. 1 10 0 0 1 16 2.61
Crick ....................... 1 10 0 0 1 12 4.43
Kela........................ 1 00 0 0 2 10 2.89
Feliz ....................... 1 00 0 0 0 10 3.74
Liriano.................... 1 32 2 0 2 21 3.39
WP: Guerra, (2-1); LP: Williams, (5-6).
Inherited runners-scored: Guerra 2-0.
HBP: DuRapau (Robles). WP: Williams.
T: 3:16. A: 11,284 (38,362).HOW THEY SCORED
NATIONALS FIRST
Turner pops out. Eaton homers to right field. Rendon
doubles. Soto walks. Cabrera out on a sacrifice fly. Soto
to second. Rendon scores. Adams homers to center
field. Soto scores. Robles grounds out.
Nationals 4, Pirates 0
NATIONALS SECOND
Gomes walks. Ross reaches on a fielder’s choice.
Gomes to third. Turner homers to center field. Ross
scores. Gomes scores. Eaton strikes out swinging. Ren-
don grounds out. Soto singles. Cabrera walks. Soto to
second. Adams doubles to deep right center field. Ca-
brera out at home. Soto scores.
Nationals 8, Pirates 0
NATIONALS FOURTH
Eaton walks. Rendon strikes out swinging. Soto dou-
bles. Eaton to third. Cabrera doubles. Soto scores.
Eaton scores. Adams doubles. Cabrera scores. Robles
hit by pitch. Gomes strikes out swinging. Ross strikes
out swinging.
Nationals 11, Pirates 0
NATIONALS NINTH
Soto doubles to deep left center field. Cabrera homers
to left field. Soto scores. Adams called out on strikes.
Robles flies out. Gomes doubles. Parra strikes out
swinging.
Nationals 13, Pirates 0Now back to the dugout in the
top of the first.
Once Eaton homered on the
eighth pitch from Pirates starter
Trevor Williams, the celebration
was waiting for him. A runway was
cleared between the front and
back stairs. Gerardo Parra, in his
pink-tinted glasses, began jump-
ing up and down. So did Aníbal
Sánchez, who is supposedly to
blame — or praise? — for all the
bad dance moves these past few
months. Parra and Sánchez, long-
time friends from Venezuela, both
veterans who don’t play every day,
are the ringleaders. Then the hit-
ters take it from there.
Eaton skipped down the steps,
hopped toward his teammates
and took off his red helmet to use
as a prop. He shook the helmet
around his body as the yelling got
louder and louder. That’s when the
home crowd, a sparse one, became
subject to the racket. Because the
ballpark was so quiet, and already
sunk by an early home run, the
Nationals’ shouts of “Hey! Hey!
Hey!” could be heard in the upper
sections, loud and clear.
“If you write a book on it, you’ll
become a millionaire. That’d be
great,” Eaton said when asked to
explain this offensive surge. “No,
we don’t know. You just keep put-
ting good at-bats together and
NATIONALS FROM D1
NATIONALS ON DECK
at Pittsburgh Pirates
Today 7:05 MASN
Tomorrow 7:05 MASN
Thursday 7:05 MASNat Chicago Cubs
Friday 2:20 MASN
Saturday 2:20 MASN
Sunday 2:20 MASN
vs. Baltimore OriolesAug. 27 7:05 MASN,
MASN 2
Aug. 28 7:05 MASN,
MASN 2Radio: WJFK (106.7 FM)Nats’ 43 runs over three games are most in majors
Excerpted from
washingtonpost.com/nationalsScherzer still on track
to return ThursdayThe Nationals believe, even more
so now, that their long wait for
Max Scherzer’s return is almost
over.
The ace has been expected to
return Thursday at Pittsburgh.
That remained the case Monday
before the Nationals’ game
against the Pirates; Scherzer
threw his usual between-starts
bullpen session at PNC Park. He
always throws a bullpen session
three days before his next start.
Scherzer even told reporters,
“See you Thursday,” while
walking through the visiting
clubhouse, and he was in a
noticeably happy mood.
“Barring anything,” Manager
Dave Martinez said Monday
when asked whether the plan
remains the same. “He felt good
again today. So he’s scheduled to
pitch Thursday.”
Scherzer has been on the
injured list since July 29 with
what was publicly diagnosed as a
mild rhomboid muscle strain. He
has been dealing with various
aches and injuries since the end
of June, including a mid-back
strain and bursitis in the scapula
below his right shoulder blade.
His absence has been lengthier
than anticipated, but the
Nationals have been extra
careful, considering the setback
he experienced a few weeks back.
The 35-year-old returned from
an IL stint against the Colorado
Rockies on July 25. He threw 86
pitches and told reporters he felt
fine afterward. But he woke up
with discomfort, and tests
revealed the rhomboid strain. He
has made just that one start
since the all-star break. So the
Nationals are hoping that this
return is for the rest of the
pennant race and beyond.
Martinez reiterated that
Scherzer will be on a pitch limit
at first, which could mean
between 75 and 80 pitches for
the series finale in Pittsburgh.
“He was happy. Very talkative,
which is good,” Martinez said of
Scherzer. “He’s been working
hard to get back. Hopefully we’re
beyond this and we move
forward and he does well and we
finish the season with him and
head to good places.”
When Scherzer slides back
into the rotation, Erick Fedde or
Joe Ross will be bumped out.
Both have pitched well in
August, with Fedde slipping a bit
in a 16-8 win against the
Milwaukee Brewers on Sunday.
Ross allowed three hits and
struck out two in 3^1 / 3 scoreless
innings Monday but was hit in
the right leg by a come-backer
and exited the game.
— Jesse DoughertyNATIONALS NOTESbaseball
PHOTOS BY KEITH SRAKOCIC/ASSOCIATED PRESSMatt Adams rounds third after hitting a two-run homer in the Nationals’ four-run first inning. His RBI double made it 8-0 in the second.
BY MATTHEW GUTIERREZ
AND ALEX ANDREJEVbaltimore — Baltimore Orioles
fans don’t go to the ballpark
expecting to cheer for a winning
team these days, so season ticket
holders Aaron and Andrea Mayer
sometimes rave about the
groundskeepers more than the
players.
“We don’t know her personal-
ly,” Andrea said of Nicole Mc-
Fadyen, who tends the field at
Camden Yards.
“But she’s won lots of awards,”
Aaron chimed in. “Before she
came here, she was at Fenway.”
Times have been tough for
Orioles fans lately, leading some
to try to find something — any-
thing — away from the game to
make the ballpark experience
enjoyable. This is especially true
as the O’s are 39-86, just a
half-game ahead of the Detroit
Tigers (37-85) for the worst rec-
ord in the majors. Baltimore’s
home attendance is projected to
drop this season from last year’s
average of 19,311, which ranked
14th among 15 AL teams.
Yet some Baltimore fans keep
coming back. The Mayers call
themselves “Baltimorons,” part
of a rare breed of fans who opt to
spend their nights watching mis-
ery. These fans show up for
myriad reasons: to carry on a
family tradition, to get outside on
a nice night after work, to meet
friends or family members for a
drink in the bleachers or just to
be loyal to their team.
“I don’t even know who’s
pitching tonight. I don’t think
anybody knows who’s pitching
tonight,” said Pat Schroeder, a
Baltimore local who was attend-
ing his fourth game of the season
June 25.
Schroeder said he used to
make it to eight to 10 games per
season. His attendance has ta-
pered in recent years to around
five games, but a promotional
event brought Schroeder, accom-
panied by his grandson, out for a
game against the San Diego Pa-
dres. Although Schroeder said he
expected a losing season, he said
he “still supports the team.”
“You just have to hang in
there,” Schroeder said.
As the dog days of the season
arrive, a handful of teams are
playing for little of consequence.
For the Orioles, this is routine: In
the past 31 seasons, they havewon 90 games just three times.
Last year the O’s lost 115 games,
and this year they’re on pace to
lose well over 100 again.
It’s frustrating to see a team
perpetually slide, said Allan
Dresser, an Orioles fan since they
moved to his hometown in 1954.
Now he arrives at Camden Yards
with a singular mind-set: The
Orioles almost surely won’t win,
but winning isn’t the important
part. He’s there because he
wouldn’t dare disavow the home-
town squad.
“Winning doesn’t matter,”
Dresser said. “I stick with them
through the good and bad.... I
want to see the hustle, run to firstbase, back up players, play funda-
mental baseball, knowing that
they have [Class] AAA talent
right now.”
Other fans said they wouldn’t
pass up a beautiful evening after
work to have a few drinks with
friends or to take in the ballpark
experience.
“One thing that brings us here
is that Camden Yards is the best
ballpark in the United States,”
Andrea Mayer said.
Mary Beth Jorgensen ranks
Camden Yards among the pretti-
est stadiums in sports and said
that’s a key draw for her as well.
“It’s beautiful here,” said
Jorgensen, a longtime fanfrom Towson.
Before she purchases tickets,
Jorgensen runs through a mental
checklist. She wants to see whom
the Orioles are playing; whether
it’ll be a nice night, ideally with
no chance of thunderstorms; and
then, just as important, whether
she can use the game to recon-
nect with her childhood or bond
with family members.
“If all of that works,” Jorgens-
en said, “then we figure it could
be a good night to go.”
Some fans even questioned
why anyone follows the team and
sits for more than three hours to
watch it lose. Why endure traffic,
then pay for parking and over-
priced beers? Why sometimes
wait out rain delays?
But then again...
“It’s the experience,” Shynay
Holland said. “That’s what we’re
going for.”
Before a recent game, Holland
sat with her son, Sir, munching
on chicken and fries in right field.
They had arrived late and
weren’t yet in their seats during
the second inning. They didn’t
care.
Holland recalled her mother
cheering when the Orioles won
the 1983 World Series, the club’s
most recent title. Winning had
brought hope and optimism to
the city where she grew up, and
her mother’s excitement left a
lasting impression.
Maybe one day, she reasoned,
her son will get to experience the
same thing. For now, they must
make their own reasons to keep
showing up for Orioles games.
“He just turned 14,” she said of
Sir. “This is better than him
playing video games.”
[email protected]
[email protected]Why watch the Orioles? Certainly not for wins.
With their team tanking and on pace for another season with 100-plus losses, Baltimore fans still find reasons to go to Camden Yards
WILL NEWTON/GETTY IMAGES
Attendance is set to decline, but fans are still coming to Camden Yards. “It’s beautiful here,” one said.KATHERINE FREY/THE WASHINGTON POST
Max Scherzer, who has been
on the injured list since July 29,
completed a bullpen session.In with the good
wpost.com/news/inspired-lifeS0331 1x0.75A Pirates fan wears a paper bag over his head before the start of the
seventh inning, when the Nationals led 11-0. Pittsburgh is 51-73.