There was much made of Bryce Harper batting leadoff for the first time since 2013, and he came through with a home run on Tuesday in a 12-4 thrashing of the Pittsburgh Pirates.
But what about the psyche of Nationals third baseman Wilmer Difo?
Difo, playing in place of the injured Anthony Rendon, entered the game with an average of .233 and had the indignity of batting ninth in the lineup.
That was one spot below starting pitcher Max Scherzer, for goodness sakes.
“That didn’t bother me at all,” said Difo, via translator Octavio Martinez.
That soon became obvious as the energetic infielder from the Dominican hit a home run in his first at-bat and ended the night reaching base in all four trips to the plate, with two hits and two walks.
That is just want manager Dave Martinez wanted out of Difo, who has value as a utility player but has had to play every day the past two years at times for the injured Trea Turner and now Rendon.
“You have a job to do: get on base,” manager Martinez told Difo about batting in front of Harper. “It is hard not to like Difo.”
Matt Adams had two homers and three RBI and Turner also drove in three runs.
That was than enough for Schezer, who posted a league-leading sixth win while giving up just two runs and three hits in 6 1/3 innings and also had an RBI single in the sixth.
And Harper crushed a three-run homer in the fifth to give the Nationals a 5-0 lead. It was the ninth homer of the season for Harper but his first in more than two weeks.
“He gave me a hug,” Martinez said of Harper after the homer. “He had some good at-bats tonight. It was a good day for him.”
Two batters later, Adams hit his second homer of the night to make it 6-0.
The hit by Scherzer upped the margin to 7-0 and Turner had a three-run double as the Nationals broke the game open with sixth runs in the sixth.
“The offense exploded there in the fifth,” Scherzer said. “I was attacking the zone. I was able to pitch with all four pitches.”
The Nationals (14-16) have now won three in a row for the first time since early April.
And pretty much every major decision Martinez made paid off for the Nationals.
Difo hit his first homer of the year in the third to give the Nationals a 1-0 lead.
Even when speedy Turner was thrown out stealing to end the third that allowed Adams to bat again to lead off the fourth. And Adams took advantage of seeing more pitches from starter and loser Chad Kuhl (3-2) as he crushed a homer to right on a slider to make it 2-0.
Scherzer (6-1) took it from there, striking out the side in the fifth inning before his teammates exploded for four runs in the last of that frame.
The three-time Cy Young winner no-hit the Pirates here in 2015. But the no-hit bid ended Tuesday before the sun set over the third-base line, as Pirates catcher Francisco Cervelli lined a double to left in the top of the second.
Scherzer, however, was nearly untouchable most of the night, fanning eight before allowing a two-run homer in the seventh to Corey Dickerson.
And the offense awoke with the first four hits all landing over the fence.
Martinez was trying to shake things up, as the Nationals entered the game with a team batting average of .240 and had left a league-high 224 runners on base.
Harper had 38 walks through Monday to lead the National League and was frustrated with not seeing enough pitches to hit.
“I thought we had a great night tonight,” Harper said.
NOTES: Pitcher Wander Suero made his big league debut when he came on for Scherzer in the seventh … Several of the Nationals players and coaches wore Capitals hats during pre-game events to support the local team. Washington faced host Pittsburgh in Game 3 of the playoffs Tuesday night … Washington right-hander Stephen Strasburg (2-3, 3.63) will oppose Pirates right-hander Ivan Nova (2-1, 3.22) on Wednesday at 7:05 p.m. … It was U.S. Navy Day at Nationals Park and Yeoman First Class Jesus Duarte threw out the first pitch.
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