CHICAGO -- The Nationals’ 6-3 comeback win over the Cubs on Sunday afternoon at Wrigley Field was all about timing.
After struggling to get runners on base for eight innings – Washington recorded seven straight outs to start the game and 11 in a row from the fifth through eighth innings – the Nationals struck for five runs in the ninth inning.
Facing Cubs closer Daniel Palencia’s triple-digit fastball, the collective game plan was to look for his best weapon and attack it.
Robert Hassell III led off the ninth by jumping on Palencia’s 100.6 mph offering and sending it into the bleachers.
Following a CJ Abrams single and a walk from James Wood, pinch-hitter Josh Bell deposited another Palencia fastball into the basket in left-center field to give the Nationals the lead.
“I had a good game plan,” Bell said. “I thought he was going to go heaters down and then try to work the slider underneath, and I was able to capitalize on the first heater I saw.”
Looking to avoid grounding into a double play with runners on first and second, Bell said his main objective was to keep the ball off the ground and get it in the air, even with the winds blowing in from Lake Michigan.
Bell said Wood’s walk was a big part of him getting the kind of pitch he could do damage with. With two runners on and no outs in what had become a one-run game, Bell knew he was likely getting a first-pitch fastball in the strike zone.
“You can’t just walk the bases loaded there,” Bell said. “I knew he was just trying to get ahead. And in that [mound] meeting that they had, they were probably going to go to one of my cold zones this year, which has been heaters down. So I was able to get underneath it.”
And that’s exactly what happened. Palencia threw a four-seamer low and inside, and Bell was ready for it.
Nationals interim manager Miguel Cairo said he knew his club had a chance in the top of the ninth with three left-handed batters coming to the plate against the right-handed Palencia, no matter how good his fastball is.
“They were ready to hit fastballs,” Cairo said. “When you have the closer and he’s got really good stuff, we were just ready to hit the fastball, that’s the thing.”
The Nationals have won five of six games in September, and late-inning comebacks have become a part of the team’s DNA. Hassell said the offense’s mentality is that whoever the closer is, he’s not better than any of them.
Palencia left the game with a right shoulder injury after giving up the two home runs, a walk and two other hits. But he had plenty of life on his fastball in his 18-pitch outing. Palencia’s slowest fastball was 97 mph, and the pitch Hassell hit was his fastest of the day.
“Definitely got to be ready for it,” Hassell said. “When I got down two strikes, I’m like, ‘OK, he might try to throw a little changeup off the plate.’ But then I figured he was going to ramp it up a couple miles per hour after that.
“It’s really just knowing that he’s going to do that instead of thinking about the other pitches. … If you’re on anything else, you’re just flat-out not going to hit it, and that’s where he’s beating guys and closing games.”
This late production from the Nationals sealed a win made possible in part by a sturdy pitching performance from Washington starter Andrew Alvarez, who allowed two runs on three hits and three walks in 4 2/3 innings.
It was Alvarez’s second start in the Majors and first on the road. He tossed five scoreless innings against the Marlins on Monday. He was less sharp against the Cubs. But Alvarez said he gained some confidence from not having his best stuff but still being able to limit the damage and get into the fifth inning.