For one weekend, at least, they finally played baseball the way it was meant to be played. A clubhouse that just days earlier boiled with frustration instead featured smiles and laughter and thumping, celebratory music.
It had been far too long for the Nationals. And while it may not last — they still own the league’s worst record, after all — they took Sunday’s crisp 4-2 victory over the Cincinnati Reds and three-game series sweep for what it was: an enjoyable weekend where, for once, players and fans alike could forget the dismal record.
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The Nats scored all four of their runs with two outs in the bottom of the first inning. That was all rookie right-hander Collin Balester and a stellar bullpen needed against the Reds, who managed just two solo home runs. Washington (41-70) has now won three in a row since suffering a season-worst nine-game losing streak.
“What it does is put some space in between the days that you had that losing streak,” said Nats manager Manny Acta, “and tomorrow.”
Balester built on his best big-league start — a 2-1 loss Tuesday to Philadelphia. Sunday, he pitched into the sixth, allowing just one run and a pair of walks. Between them, relievers Steven Shell, Charlie Manning and Joel Hanrahan gave up just one run in 3 2/3 innings.
Balester’s best moment was a spin-and-throw pickoff move that erased Reds base runner Brandon Phillips from second base — an impressive feat considering Balester and shortstop Alberto Gonzalez had never played a game together.
“Hey, that’s all it takes,” said Balester, who had four pickoffs earlier this season while at Triple-A Columbus. “It was all non-verbal. I wasn’t like ‘I’m going to pick you off now.’”
Cincinnati starter Johnny Cueto opened with a pair of strikeouts. But he couldn’t sneak that fastball past Lastings Milledge, who drilled a home run into the left field stands.
Suddenly, an infield hit by Austin Kearns, a single in the hole from Kory Casto and a Pete Orr base hit that skipped through left fielder Adam Dunn left a shaken Cueto down 3-0. Wil Nieves added a bloop RBI single for good measure.
“When you’re going bad it seems breaks never happen,” Orr said. “The last three days we’ve had the key hits and it seems to be a momentum thing, I guess. [But] the biggest thing is you can tell everyone’s having fun again.”
