Nationals manager Dave Martinez played a hunch by having speedy Trea Turner bat sixth in the lineup Tuesday night.
“He’s a pure hitter,” Martinez said after Turner went 4-for-4 in a 9-7 win over the Orioles.
Turner is also a speedy hitter, and he has hit in the leadoff spot 45 times this year and 17 times in the second spot.
Tuesday was just the sixth time he has hit in the No. 6 spot this season and he responded with a homer, double and two singles. The Nationals shortstop scored two runs and lifted his average to .267.
“I just tried to make adjustments,” said Turner, standing by his locker after the game. “I feel like all year I have been hitting balls right at people.”
The Nationals trailed 5-1 before scoring four in the fifth and four in the seventh for the comeback victory.
Does that make the win more special?
“I don’t care how it happens,” Turner said.
The Nationals snapped a four-game losing streak and beat the Orioles for the sixth time in a row.
It was the most runs Washington scored since June 6 in an 11-2 win over Tampa Bay.
“Sometimes you just have to put the ball in play and good things happen,” Martinez said.
Reliever Justin Miller improved to 5-0 in two innings of work and new reliever Kelvin Herrera, acquired in a trade with the Kansas City Royals on Monday, retired all three batters he faced in the eighth inning on just six pitches.
Closer Sean Doolittle pitched the ninth for the save.
“That is what we need at the back end” of the bullpen, Turner said.
Center fielder Bryce Harper had a bloop RBI double and was 1-for-4 and is hitting .213. Washington third baseman Anthony Rendon had two hits and drove in three runs and right fielder Adam Eaton hit leadoff in place of Turner had had two hits and scored twice.
The Orioles have lost 10 of 11 and at 20-51 have the worst record in the majors and may threaten the worst season in Baltimore history.
The Nationals are 39-32 and host the Orioles for two more games before Philadelphia comes to town Friday for a three-game series.
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