*Photo from the Greenwich Time*
How's that for an introduction to your new team? James Wood homered and drove in two runs, Jose Tena drove in the game winning run, and the Washington Nationals defeated the Los Angeles Angels 5-4 Saturday in Washington.
It's the second straight extra innings walk off win for the Nationals, who played their 3rd straight extra innings game overall. Wood had a big day at the plate, as did Alex Call with his 5th straight multi hit game. Tena had the more exciting day, driving in the winning run making his Nationals debut.
Washington manager Dave Martinez said of Tena "I think his teammates know who he is now. He’s a good kid, loves to play. He’s very handsy when it comes to hitting. We’re going to get a good look at him, and hopefully he comes out tomorrow and does the same thing."
Brandon Drury gave the Angels a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning as his sac fly scored Taylor Ward. In the bottom of the inning, a solo home run by Wood tied the game 1-1. Call put the Nationals ahead 2-1 in the 3rd with an RBI single before Drury tied it 2-2 in the 4th with an RBI single of his own. Zach Neto gave the Angels a 3-2 lead in the 5th with a solo home run, his 17th of the year.
Kevin Pillar made it a 4-2 lead for the Angels later in the inning with a double that scored Logan O'Hoppe. The Nationals rallied to tie it 4-4 in the 7th on an RBI double by Wood and an RBI single by Tena. It stayed that way until the 10th, when Tena became the hero for the Nationals with a single that scored CJ Abrams.
Washington reliever Derek Law said of Tena's walk off "That’s how you’re going to start it off? C’mon. It’s super exciting. What better way to bring the team together and bring somebody new in than a walk-off hit for your final at-bat of your first game?"
Patrick Corbin allowed 4 runs in 4 innings in his start for the Nationals, striking out two hitters. Eduardo Salazar pitched two scoreless innings before Tanner Rainey and Jose Ferrer each added a scoreless inning of their own. Law pitched two scoreless innings to get credit for the win.
Griffin Canning went 7 innings in his start for the Angels, allowing 4 runs on 8 hits while failing to record a strikeout. Hunter Strickland pitched a scoreless 8th and Hans Crouse did the same in the 9th. Roansy Contreras got the loss in the 10th.
Angels manager Ron Washington said of the loss "That was a tough one there. That’s the second one we had that we let get away. Canning did a heck of a job. He went out there in the seventh inning, and we were hoping he could get us through that inning. But they strung some stuff together and we went to extra innings. We had a runner at third with one out and the right part of the lineup up, but we got nothing out of it."
The series finale is lined up for Sunday. MacKenzie Gore gets the start for the Nationals as they go for the sweep, while Jack Kochanowicz was called up from Double A to start the finale for the Angels as they look to salvage the finale.
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