Nationals wrap up a wild day by pounding the Yankees for first win

So Robles, 23, keyed an offense that hid the poor defense behind spot starter Erick Fedde. He ripped a double that sneaked inside the left field line. He smacked a homer that found the left field foul pole. And after Fedde exited, having completed four innings, Tanner Rainey, Ryne Harper, James Bourque and Kyle Finnegan combined for five scoreless frames. Harper covered two of them, tossing 31 pitches.

“That’s what these guys do,” Manager Dave Martinez said of performing without key players. “They love being around each other. They know we’re under different circumstances. But they’re going to pick each other up, and that’s huge right now. Especially with no fans here.”

Before Fedde threw the game’s first pitch at 7:16 p.m., the Nationals had another full day of scrambling. It started when catcher Tres Barrera was suspended for 80 games for banned substance use. It continued when Soto received another negative coronavirus test result, according to people with knowledge of the situation, though he still will need two negatives confirmed by MLB’s lab before returning to play. Then the Nationals scratched Strasburg from what would have been his first appearance since he signed a seven-year, $245 million contract last winter.

All the while, the Nationals negotiated with veteran infielder Josh Harrison, according to two people with knowledge of the discussions. The Nationals have keyed on Harrison since he was released by the Philadelphia Phillies on Tuesday. The reason, as reinforced by the Soto, Strasburg and Barrera news in recent days, is that depth and experience will be especially needed in 2020.

Harrison, a two-time all-star with the Pittsburgh Pirates, can play second, third and the corner outfield spots. If he signs a major league deal and passes a physical thereafter, the Nationals would have to make room for him on their 30-man active roster.

The Nationals jumped ahead 3-0 after four consecutive hits in the second, punctuated by Robles’s two-run double. But that was the only support Fedde received.

Howie Kendrick and Starlin Castro both made errors behind him in the first, though Castro’s came on a scorched one-hopper. With no outs in the third, Gio Urshela hit a grounder to shortstop Trea Turner. Turner booted it, and Urshela took second once Turner skipped a throw to Fedde.

The box score showed two errors on the play. They soon led to an unearned run. Fedde danced out of the third having made few mistakes, but that changed an inning later. He fell behind 3-0 to Giancarlo Stanton and served up a middle-middle fastball. Stanton’s solo homer traveled 483 feet and left the yard at 121.3 mph. Fedde struggled from there, loading the bases in the fourth, yet limited the damage before his outing ended at 68 pitches.

“Really happy with it,” Fedde said of his night, even if it had a bumpy finish. “The goal every time I go out is to be really aggressive and put them in a tough spot. I was able to get ahead early, and that’s as important as it gets.”

The Nationals jumped on Yankees starter James Paxton, whose fastball velocity was 4 mph slower than usual. Paxton lasted just three outs and 41 pitches before he was lifted for reliever Michael King. And it was King who tried to jam Robles with a fastball in the fourth, then paid for it.

In a small sample size last season, Robles excelled when connecting with low-and-inside pitches. His second-inning double off Paxton came off a 2-2 knuckle curve that was over the plate. But his homer came off a fastball that was a few inches off the plate inside. His bat whipped through the zone, and he hesitated, watching its flight, before sprinting toward first.

It hit the foul pole netting and bounced onto the warning track. There was no reason to hurry. Cheers from the dugout were quickly drowned out by artificial crowd noise. Robles skipped after rounding third, skipped into home and kissed his batting gloves before reaching toward the sky. He built a lead that grew with RBI doubles from Kendrick and Asdrúbal Cabrera in the fifth. Then Cabrera and Michael A. Taylor tacked on solo homers.

“I just know I have quick hands and it’s a reaction,” Robles said in Spanish through a team interpreter of hitting inside pitching. “I go up there looking to make solid contact.”

Robles was more than two weeks late to summer training after completing a city-mandated quarantine. There was fear he could have contracted the coronavirus while flying from the Dominican Republic to Miami on July 1. While away, he lifted weights in his hotel room and ran wind sprints in the parking garage. Otherwise, he was not allowed outside, and he didn’t see live pitching until the middle of the month.

But if there was any rust heading into the season, it hasn’t shown.

Source:WP