ATLANTA -- The Nationals just refuse to quit.
Washington fell behind by three runs early, but stormed back with four unanswered runs (two in the seventh, two in the eighth) en route to 5-4 win over the Braves on Wednesday at Truist Park. The road victory snapped the Nationals’ seven-game skid and set the club up to split the four-game set in Thursday’s finale.
“Put one on the board for the good guys,” Nationals manager Dave Martinez said. “The boys played well. It’s fun to watch these guys come out and compete. Some balls got in the gaps when we needed them. We took our walks. The pitching came in and held us. It was a good team effort today.”
The comeback was preceded by multiple strange plays. Perhaps the strangest play of the night occurred when Braves third baseman Michael Harris II tallied a triple that was originally called a home run, but was eventually overturned via crew chief review.
Harris’ fly ball bounced off the top of the concrete wall in right-center field and caromed back into the field of play. Harris went into his home run trot around second base before realizing the ball was still in play and he hustled safely to third.
Nationals right fielder Alex Call had the best view of the ‘none’ home run as he fielded the ball and fired it back into the infield.
“It hit off the [top of the wall] and just went straight up,” Call said. “I know it didn’t hit anything [over the fence], so I was trying to play it live and they made the right call eventually. It didn’t touch anything except the wall. It was just one in a million.”
Harris barely beat Call’s throw as Call overshot the cutoff man, but there was myriad confusion on both sides during the play.
“I just turned to throw it in, and I don’t think anyone was lined up to [throw to] third because everyone thought it was a home run,” Call said. “I just turned to throw it in and the ball actually made it all the way to third, which was like ‘Oh, man, we almost got him.’ I knew it was a live ball.”
Harris eventually scored from third on an Eli White double.
The Nationals were also thrown out three times on the basepaths in the early going. In the top of the first, CJ Abrams was thrown out at the plate trying to score from second after he hesitated around third base before ultimately heading for home, where he was tagged out.
“I kind of froze on the line drive, and around home I kind of froze, too,” Abrams said.
“It’s baseball,” Martinez said. “CJ broke back to second. Still as fast as he is, we’re trying to get that early lead. He gets thrown out. We stayed together. The ‘not’ home run, the way I saw it, it hit the top of the wall. They did a good job of reviewing it and calling it a triple. Even though he scored, it was one of those wacky plays.”
Later in the game, Josh Bell was tagged out trying to stretch a single to a double and Dylan Crews was caught trying to steal second.
“That’s what happens when you’re trying to force the issue,” Martinez said. “We’re struggling to win and these guys are trying very hard. I talked about it yesterday, sometimes we’re trying a little too hard and trying to make things happen. … Bell [was] trying to hustle to get to second base, I truly appreciate that. It’s short right field, he thought he had a chance to make it. It happens.”
Despite the miscues on the bases early, the Nationals took advantage of Atlanta’s two late errors and shaky bullpen performance as they rallied to win for the first time since May 6.
Washington was silenced by Braves starter Bryce Elder who allowed one run on five hits over six innings, but the Nationals got to Atlanta’s bullpen. Amed Rosario tied the game on an RBI single before James Wood’s game-winning RBI double put the Nationals ahead.
“I talk about it all the time.” Martinez said, “‘How do you get them to make mistakes?’ By being aggressive, by playing good baseball and by forcing the envelope a little bit and staying on them. Tonight we did that, and we came out on top.”