Their two biggest bats sat in the dugout nursing injuries. Another top hitter has not played in a game since Aug. 15.
It seemed the Nationals were outgunned entering Thursday afternoon’s contest with the Houston Astros. Instead, the team’s unheralded players took it upon themselves to finish this four-game series strong.
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Michael Morse, Roger Bernadina and Danny Espinosa all homered and a makeshift infield made several spectacular defensive plays in a 7-2 victory at Nationals Park.
First baseman Adam Dunn sat out with a bruised elbow after he was hit by a pitch in Wednesday’s game. He is also battling a sore hamstring. Meanwhile, third baseman Ryan Zimmerman was a late scratch thanks to an intercostal strain. Those are the muscles that run between the ribs and move the chest wall. So Washington was without two of the top 16 offensive players in Major League Baseball and missing a combined 60 home runs. The Nats long ago lost outfielder Josh Willingham, who had 16 homers and an .848 OPS when his season ended after left knee surgery.
“Let those guys rest. Those guys have played every day, they’re our workhorses,” said Morse, who hit his 13th homer of the season in just 240 at-bats. “[Zimmerman] is like Cal Ripken out there. You can’t get him out of games. So it was good to get them both the rest and still get the win.”
Washington left-hander Ross Detwiler pitched six innings of two-run ball. Used in the bullpen since returning from the disabled list on Sept. 7, Detwiler was making just his fourth start of the season and earned his first win as a starter since Sept. 28. 2009. It brought back memories of last September when Detwiler shook off a disappointing season and built momentum for 2010 with five earned runs allowed over 23 2/3 innings in his final five starts.
“The same thing happened last year,” said Detwiler, who manager Jim Riggleman has said will get one last start this season. “I didn’t have as good a year as I wanted to and in September I was throwing a little better. It just makes you want it more, makes you work harder in the offseason. I’m looking forward to all that.”
He was helped by a defense that included Ian Desmond at shortstop and Danny Espinosa at second base – but who played shortstop in college at Long Beach State and for his first year in the Nats’ minor-league system. Adam Kennedy, normally a second baseman, was at first base in place of Dunn and utility infielder Alberto Gonzalez was at third base for Zimmerman.
“The plan was to go out there and get early contact and get ground balls,” Detwiler said. “Because we essentially had four shortstops on the infield.”
Gonzalez made a sensational diving stop in the sixth inning to rob Houston of a double. Desmond made a great leaping snare of a line drive in the third inning to start a double play. He and Espinosa had teamed up for a more conventional 6-4-3 double play in the second.
Morse’s solo homer in the second inning tied the game at 1-1. The Nats trailed 2-1 in the sixth inning before they scored four times to take control. Morse doubled home two more runs with two out. Bernadina followed with a two-run homer of his own. Trying to break out of a nasty September slump, Bernadina now has three extra-base hits in his last five games. Espinosa added a pair of insurance runs in the seventh inning with his sixth homer in 73 big-league at-bats.
“A lot of guys came up clutch today,” Espinosa said. “That’s it. Everybody on this team has the ability to do that and today we did it.”
