BOSTON — The musical stylings of Usher bumped through the clubhouse Wednesday afternoon as the Washington Nationals changed into suits and packed their bags.
After two nightmarish losses to the Boston Red Sox, the Nationals won the series finale in convincing fashion, 10-5. The lineup scored double-digit runs for the first time since early September. The bullpen, buoyed by two dominant innings from Rafael Martin in his major league debut, took over from there. The defense was reliable. And whatever frustration had built up over the first week of the season began to dissipate.
“It was kind of fun to play today,” said left fielder Tyler Moore, who recorded his first hits of the season, including a two-run homer in the seventh. “It kind of felt like we weren’t so nervous about messing up. There wasn’t that fear there. It was kind of go out, relax and play.”
The Nationals didn’t appear to feel that way for much of the first week of the season, particularly not since they arrived in Boston on Sunday night. In Boston’s home opener Monday afternoon, the Nationals made a bevy of defensive mistakes and lost, 9-4. On Tuesday night, they fell behind, pulled back ahead, and ultimately lost because of three errors in the seventh inning. Entering Wednesday, they had dropped five of their past six games.
In every interview, the Nationals said there was no alarm or concern about their slow start, even as their demeanor — and play on the field — said otherwise. On Wednesday, they began the process of putting the difficult stretch behind them, heading home for a four-game series against the Philadelphia Phillies with momentum in the dugout and confidence at the plate.
“I think that was too much pressure on the clubhouse right now,” said catcher Wilson Ramos, who drove in three runs Wednesday. “I think yesterday and today we was more relaxed. We just go out there and enjoy the game. That’s what we need. We need go out there and just play baseball. We don’t have to feel too much pressure.”
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Ramos was then asked about the source of that pressure.
“I don’t know. Probably outside,” he said. “I think a lot of eyes [are] on the team. Everybody has big expectations for the team. They want to see the Nationals doing everything right. But baseball is not perfect. You can make errors. You can strike out. You can do bad things. But you have to make an adjustment to try to do good things and play good baseball.”
The Nationals showed signs of doing that over the past 18 innings, when they scored as many runs (17) as they did in their first 65 innings of the season.
On Wednesday, they did the majority of their work in the third inning, cycling through the entirety of the batting order. Seven players reached base. Six came around to score. Four recorded an extra-base hit in the inning, beginning with Ian Desmond’s mammoth solo home run, which clanked off a sign atop the “Green Monster” in left field.
“It was just one of those days where everyone was excited,” Desmond said. “It was fun. It’s fun to score runs. It’s fun to win.”
Manager Matt Williams praised the Nationals’ aggressive approach at the plate Wednesday, specifically their penchant for getting into hitter’s counts against starter Wade Miley.
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“We expect to play like that,” right fielder Bryce Harper said. “We’ve got a great lineup and we think we’re going to win. We should be able to do what we did today. Of course sometimes it’s not going to work out, but today we swung very well. We should play like that every time.”
After building their largest lead of the season, the Nationals entrusted it to Martin, a 30-year-old right-hander who had worked construction in California and played three years in Mexico but never pitched in a major league game.
The man Gio Gonzalez nicknamed “The Mexican Assassin” jogged from the bullpen in the seventh inning as the 33,493 fans at Fenway Park sang “Take Me Out to The Ballgame.” He proceeded to strike out five consecutive batters over two innings. Yunel Escobar had suggested he attack the zone with fastballs because shadows on the infield had made it difficult for hitters to pick up the ball. That plan led to a more impressive debut than he ever could have imagined.
“I can’t even describe it. I have no words,” said Martin, who was later handed the ball from his first big league strikeout. “It’s something. A great feeling.”
It seemed there was plenty of that to go around as the Nationals boarded a bus at Fenway Park, then a plane back to the District. The tension was behind them, and a long, promising season ahead.
• Tom Schad can be reached at tschad@washingtontimes.com.
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