The Nats’ Joey Meneses show continues — this time with a walk-off homer

Meneses, their 30-year-old rookie and brightest spot since they traded their two best players a month ago, crushed a dreadful stat by lifting Norge Ruiz’s 2-2 breaking ball for a three-run homer. And once a 7-5 victory over Oakland was on the scoreboard, the remaining fans chanted Meneses’s first name, filling a mostly empty ballpark with little bits of joy.

“Obviously when you see someone on TV hit a walk-off, you think about it and think how it would feel,” Meneses said, speaking in Spanish through a team interpreter. “But in the moment, the adrenaline is very different for you. The feelings are very different. It’s just something very great.”

With four hits — including singles in the first, third and seventh — Meneses raised his average to .354 and his on-base-plus-slugging percentage to 1.011. In 25 games, he has seven homers and 35 hits, the most by any Nationals rookie in that amount of contests.

To set up Meneses’s heroics, Keibert Ruiz singled in César Hernández and Lane Thomas walked with two down. The Nationals trailed by a run, meaning a single could have tied the game. But after falling behind on borderline pitches, Meneses got all of a slider at the bottom of the zone.

Thinking it might strike the top of the fence, he sprinted out of the box. Soon, though, he saw it clear and raised a hand in the air. Moments later, he leaped into home plate, his team bobbing around him, and later was drenched with a cooler of Gatorade during an on-field interview that played through the Nationals Park speakers. For Washington — and for a player who spent a decade in the minors before his debut Aug. 2 — it was the perfect sound in a summer short on victories big or small.

“A lot of things ran through my mind,” Meneses said of rounding the bases. “Very excited that I looked at home and saw my teammates there. I mean, it was just very exciting and emotional.”

Other supporting efforts for Washington (45-86) on Thursday: Reliever Kyle Finnegan blanked the Athletics (49-83) in the ninth; infielder Ildemaro Vargas poked a score-knotting single in the eighth; and Paolo Espino thrived for most of five innings, limiting Oakland with a steady diet of looping curves. But as has often been the case since the trade deadline, Meneses shined and the rest unfolded around him.

For the most part, that has meant adding offense to unwanted results. When Meneses was promoted at the start of August, he could fill in for Josh Bell at first or Juan Soto in right. And when Luke Voit arrived in the trade that sent Soto and Bell to the San Diego Padres, Meneses found a temporary home in the outfield, hoping to stick beyond this season.

Meneses didn’t have his own bats until mid-August. No matter: He produced with lumber gathered from Gerardo Parra, Miguel Andújar and others along his winding journey, counting Japan, his native Mexico and a bunch of tiny towns as previous stops. On Tuesday, in the series opener with the Athletics, he cranked three doubles. Early on in the finale, he kept logging hits but disappointed himself in other ways. He twice bobbled balls in right and maybe gifted an extra base to his opponents. In the eighth, with a chance to bury the A’s before extras, he struck out with two on to kill a rally.

But when it mattered most, Meneses delivered again.

Looking beyond this season, he has four weeks to pad a strong case for more starts and at-bats in 2023. He has quickly turned into the ideal fit for a rebuilding roster, a fan favorite who hardly strains a stripped-down payroll. Yet in the meantime, as Washington tries to avoid its worst finish in club history, Meneses has offered something unexpected to the club and a hope-starved city. His at-bats are worth the watch.

“If I’m a young hitter, I’m watching right now what he’s doing,” Manager Dave Martinez said. “His damage is really staying in the middle of the field and going the other way. He’s crushing the ball like that, especially with two strikes. I’m going to take that into consideration if I’m a young hitter.”

How did the Nationals expand their roster to 28 players? They officially added catcher Tres Barrera and reliever Mason Thompson before Thursday’s finale. Barrera, 27, was with the Nationals for most of July and August before Riley Adams rejoined the club. Thompson, 24 and acquired in the Daniel Hudson trade at last year’s deadline, has been up and down since he recovered from a biceps strain two months ago. But while Manager Dave Martinez explained each decision — Barrera to have more flexibility with Adams and Ruiz, Thompson because Washington wants to see him again before the offseason — there were limited options on the 40-man roster.

At the very least, that was the case with Barrera. The only other position players were infielder Lucius Fox and left fielder Yasel Antuna, who is 22 with no experience above his current assignment in Class AA Harrisburg. Aside from Thompson, the other healthy pitchers were Joan Adon, Reed Garrett, Andrés Machado, Francisco Perez, Gerardo Carrillo, Jordan Weems and Tommy Romero, who was recently claimed off waivers from the Tampa Bay Rays. Realistically, Carrillo wasn’t considered because he returned from shoulder issues midsummer and is building up his workload in Harrisburg. And since the Nationals wanted a reliever, neither were Adon or Romero.

That means Thompson edged out Garrett, Machado, Perez and Weems, which is no surprise given how the Nationals view him. They believe there’s a place in their future for Thompson’s hard sinker and slider. Now he has another shot to prove it.