Highlighted by a three-run double from Carlos Rivero, the Nationals rallied for five runs in the top of the 8th and held off the Braves in 9th for a 6-5 win on Friday night.
Five straight batters reached base, starting with a Jhonatan Solano single, a Eury Perez single, a walk from Anthony Rendon, an RBI single by Will Rhymes, and an RBI walk from Steve Souza. After a Zach Walters popup, Rivero emptied the bases with a shot off the fence in left-center. [Insert out of options mention here]
The outburst made a winner out of Fernando Abad, who pitched the seventh and gave up a hit but no runs while striking out two. Cole Kimball tossed his third shutout inning of the spring for the “H,” giving up a walk but setting down two on strikes. Jeremy Accardo was knocked around for four hits in the 9th but allowed just a run, thanks in no small part to a great stop from Rhymes with two out that kept the tying run on third.
Jordan Zimmermann made his second start and gave up two runs on five hits over three innings. Working on his changeup, Zimmerman threw 29 of 35 pitches for strikes and walked none. Bryce Harper went deep for the first time this pring, while Jason Heyward swatted his third big fly to give the AP copy editor the easy headline.
Back to “our guys.” Four of ’em got the start — Eury Perez (1-for-4, R, K) in right field , Chris Marrero (1-for-3) at first base, Cory Brown (0-for-2, K) in left field, and Sandy Leon (0-for-2, K) at catcher. Here’s a rundown of how the notable minor-leaguers did:
- Rendon 0-for-1, R, BB at SS
- Souza 0-for-0, BB, RBI as PR-RF
- Walters 0-for-1 as PH-DH
- Rivero 1-for-1, 2B, 3RBI as PH-3B
- Skole 0-for-1, K as PR-1B
- Jimmy Van Ostrand 0-for-2 at LF
- Solano 1-for-2, R at C
It’s back to day play for the Nats as they visit the Cardinals this afternoon at 1 p.m.