Boy did the Washington Nationals catchers eat their wheaties in this series! After a massive game from Drew Millas last night, Keibert Ruiz one upped him, going 3 for 4 with two doubles and a homer. Ruiz’s homer in the 7th inning gave the Nats a lead they would not relinquish thanks to some solid work from the bullpen.
Keibert Ruiz’s struggles at the plate have been well documented at this point, but in this contest, the Nats catcher exercised some demons. He was hitting rockets all over the yard
all afternoon. In his first two at bats, Ruiz drilled RBI doubles. Then, after the Nats gave up their fragile one run lead in the top of the 7th, Ruiz immediately responded by hitting a solo homer to right.
He had 8 total bases on the day and raised his OPS to .633 for the season. Ruiz has actually made major defensive improvements this season, but it was tough for fans to pay attention to that with how bad he was at the plate. Today, he delivered in a massive way.
This game was a back and forth affair throughout. The Twins jumped out to an early 2-0 in the second, but the Nats responded with two runs of their own in the second. Then the Twins would get their lead back after a pair of hits in the fifth inning. Jake Irvin did not have his best stuff in this one, and his velocity was down, but he kept the Nats in the game.
After some Keibert Ruiz heroics and some sloppy Twins defense in the bottom of the 5th, the Nats came away with a 5-3 lead. However, as was the norm in this game, the Twins immediately answered back with a Ryan Jeffers home run. That was the end of the line for Jake Irvin in this one and he handed the ball over to Richard Lovelady.
Lovelady was erratic with two walks and a hit by pitch. However, he did get two outs, including a big strikeout with the bases loaded. That set up a matchup between Byron Buxton and Orlando Ribalta with no room for error. After getting to a 3-2 count, Ribalta fired a perfect slider to strike out Buxton and get out of the inning.
It was a 5-4 game, and the lead felt very tenuous. That anxiety proved to be well placed, as the Twins tied the game in the 7th, with old friend Josh Bell delivering a pinch hit down the line to tie the game.
However, as we discussed, Keibert Ruiz quickly restored the Nats lead. The Nats took advantage of a shaky Twins bullpen for a second straight day. After the Ruiz homer, the boys strung together three straight hits, capped off by a Curtis Mead RBI single to get an important insurance run.
Mead has been really solid for the Nats lately. The Aussie has been providing the Nats with quality at bats and solid production lately. While he is only hitting .220, his OPS is in a nice spot, at .758. With the Nats lack of right handed bats, I think Mead should get more playing time over Luis Garcia Jr., who is struggling right now.
With a 7-5 lead, it was up to the bullpen to hold their nerve. PJ Poulin and Gus Varland did just that. After Poulin got the first two outs in the 8th, Varland came in and got a four out save. He blew away James Outman to secure the victory, and the Nats got their first home series win of the season.
These Nats have done a nice job keeping their heads above water. They are now just two games under .500 at 18-20. This was a series they should have won, and they did just that, dispatching a mediocre Twins team two nights in a row after dropping the first game.
Now, the Nats head to Miami where they will face the Marlins for the first time this season. On paper, this is another opportunity for a series win. They seem to have finally conquered the home demons, and now they head back on the road where they have excelled this season.
