NewsNats come from behind to beat Braves
Dunn sparks rally with monster home run in sixth inning
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By Bill Ladson / MLB.com
04/22/09 1:15 AM ET
WASHINGTON -- The Nationals came back from a three-run first-inning deficit to defeat the Braves, 4-3, at Nationals Park on Tuesday night.After a pregame rain delay of about an hour, Washington had problems with Atlanta right-hander Kenshin Kawakami during the first five innings, but managed to get to him in the sixth. Adam Dunn led off the inning by hitting an 0-2 pitch over the center-field wall to cut the lead to 3-2.
After Elijah Dukes reached base on an error by third baseman Chipper Jones, Austin Kearns tripled past left fielder Matt Diaz to score Dukes and tie the score at 3.
Two batters later, pinch-hitter Josh Willingham singled to left field to bring Kearns home for the go-ahead run. Willingham is now 2-for-5 as a pinch-hitter. While he would love to play more often, Willingham has prepared himself to come off the bench and produce.
"Pinch-hitting is hard. It's something I'm getting used to the more I do it," Willingham said. "You have to get your body loose and get everything rolling. I'm getting into a routine. Then when you get up there, you just can't do too much. You have to try to get a good pitch, put a good swing on it and whatever happens, happens."
Relievers Mike Hinckley, Julian Tavarez and Joel Hanrahan blanked Atlanta over the last three innings, but Hanrahan made it interesting in the ninth inning before picking up his second save of the season.
He started the inning by walking Diaz and giving up a double to Jordan Schafer to put runners on second and third.
Hanrahan then decided to rely heavily on his breaking ball. Hanrahan acknowledged that he was trying to strike out Greg Norton, but the pinch-hitter hit a comebacker to Hanrahan for the first out. Hanrahan then had a feeling that he was going to get out of the jam
"I had confidence that I would get out of that situation. I wasn't in a panic. I had confidence," Hanrahan said. "I took a deep breath and tried to execute every pitch."
Hanrahan did just that. He got Kelly Johnson to fly out to Dukes in short center field for the second out. Pitching coach Randy St. Claire then came out to the mound to talk to Hanrahan and catcher Jesus Flores. St. Claire knew that the next hitter, Yunel Escobar, would be swinging at the first pitch, so Hanrahan was ordered to start with a slider.
When the game resumed, Hanrahan was looking for the sign from Flores, but never received one. Hanrahan then threw a fastball on the outside part of the plate. Fortunately, Escobar grounded out to second baseman Anderson Hernandez to end the game. Hanrahan had already forgotten that he was supposed to throw a slider.
"[After the last out], Joel was so excited that he said, 'Yeah, yeah,'" Flores said. "We just talked about it -- first-pitch slider. He thought I said fastball first pitch. We got the out, so we win."
For Hanrahan, it was his second consecutive save after blowing two others late last week against the Marlins.
"I hope this gives him confidence, and it should," manager Manny Acta said. "He worked out of a pretty difficult jam right there. ... He [battled] it out and pitched to some good hitters."
The winning pitcher was right-hander Shairon Martis, who threw six innings and gave up three runs -- two earned -- on six hits. All three runs scored in the first inning.
Martis was able to get two quick outs, but then he walked Jones and Brian McCann. Casey Kotchman followed and doubled to right-center field to bring home Jones. Jeff Francoeur came to the plate and hit a ground ball to shortstop Alberto Gonzalez, who threw the ball past first baseman Nick Johnson to score McCann and Kotchman.
It was smooth sailing after that. Martis blanked the Braves and gave up four hits over the next five innings.
"Other than that first inning, he came back and pitched a great game," Acta said. "He could have continued to fall behind in the count and give up a bunch of runs. But he battled it out. He just kept us in the game and gave us a quality start."
The Nationals made it a two-run game in the bottom of the second inning when Flores doubled to left to send Kearns home.
Then things started to click in the sixth, but Acta was not satisfied after the game. He didn't like that his hitters left too many runners in scoring position. In fact, Washington left nine runners on.
"The way our bullpen has been the last 10 days, we need every run we can get to have that breathing room," Acta said.
The Nationals won back-to-back games for the first time this season, improving their record to 3-10.
Bill Ladson is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
