Nationals avoid bullpen disaster, hold on to extra-innings win over Orioles

CJ Abrams made the biggest play of the game with his glove.

You read that sentence correctly. Abrams, much maligned — and rightfully so — for his defense, made arguably the biggest play of the game on defense Saturday night.

With the Nationals clinging to a one-run lead and Jeremiah Jackson at third base with one out in the 10th inning, Taylor Ward hit a ground ball to Abrams. In that situation, Jackson is taught to run on contact, especially with his team down a run.

So Abrams quickly backhanded the ball and threw a strike to catcher Drew Millas to get the second out and keep the Nationals ahead by a run.

“It’s big,” Abrams said after the Nationals snapped a four-game losing streak with a 4-3 win over the Orioles at Camden Yards. “This game, especially when things aren’t going your way, it tests you. It tested us today and we passed, so let’s keep it rolling.”

The Nationals were leading 3-1 in the eighth inning thanks in large part to Foster Griffin pitching brilliantly. Griffin — whose $5.5 million contract is increasingly looking like a bargain — threw seven innings of one-run ball with a career-high-tying nine strikeouts.

But, as the Nationals have learned this season, getting the last outs is the hardest.

Left-hander PJ Poulin entered in the eighth and allowed a leadoff single before recording a strikeout and a groundout. Right-hander Orlando Ribalta was summoned to face All-Star slugger Pete Alonso because of the handedness advantage.

Ribalta doesn’t miss many bats but possesses the velocity that teams covet in late-inning situations. With a runner on third, he threw a slider in the strike zone that Alonso clobbered for an RBI double that cut the lead to one.

That’s when the familiar dread set in for the Nationals. Ribalta then allowed a game-tying single to Samuel Basallo before inducing a lineout to end the inning.

Right-hander Clayton Beeter threw a shutout ninth to send the game into extras. In the top of the 10th, Daylen Lile drove a single through the right side of the infield against right-hander Ryan Helsley to score the automatic runner from second.

But Helsley stranded runners on the corners to keep the Nationals’ lead at one.

And, when Gunnar Henderson hit a two-out single in the 10th inning against right-hander Justin Lawrence immediately after Abrams’ big play, there was that dread creeping back into every Nationals fan’s mind. The feeling that the team was about to waste a stellar outing from Griffin. The feeling that another win was slipping from Washington’s grasp.

That dread didn’t dissipate after Lawrence walked Alonso to load the bases, necessitating a mound visit from pitching coach Simon Mathews. But, in a change of fate, Lawrence recorded the game-ending groundout and his first save.

“We gotta keep it interesting,” Lile said. “We’re always in the fight, no matter what the score says. We can change the score at any moment.”

“Chaotic is the stamp you can put on how my year’s gone this year,” said Lawrence, who was claimed Wednesday from the Twins. “I was able to get that done, especially after the way Foster threw the ball, you know, excited to turn this thing for the boys here.”

The Orioles will view this as another missed opportunity in a season full of them, particularly after president of baseball operations Mike Elias spoke before the game and signaled his hope that they can climb into one of the wild-card places and thus buy at the trade deadline.

“Halfway through the season, which means there’s a lot more baseball to be played,” Jackson said. “I don’t think there’s any panic on our end. I think we have a great ballclub. We’re just going to keep going every day and keep playing a full nine innings and just do our thing.”

The Nationals needed this game. Competitive teams curb losing streaks before they get out of hand, and if the Nationals couldn’t win this one it was fair to ask how long the losing streak would last. But, for one night, the players can unclench their teeth and relax. They can breathe a little easier.

“More than anything, it’s a sigh of relief,” manager Blake Butera said. “Obviously after how these last few days have gone, it’s hard. It’s tough when you have leads and you lose them, and you feel like you should have won some games, especially against a team like the Phillies.”

This wasn’t a clean game for the Orioles. Two of Washington’s runs could have been prevented with better defense, and while Griffin deserves plaudits, Baltimore should look internally as well.

“I mean, Griffin was, we didn’t have an answer for him,” Orioles manager Craig Albernaz said. He went seven innings, nine punchouts. I mean, we couldn’t get anything going offensively against him. He’s having a good year and does a great job of changing speeds.”

A major part of Baltimore’s uneven play this season has come from its lackluster defense.

The first defensive lapse wasn’t an error, but when Lile lifted a deep fly ball to left-center field, Ward took a circuitous route to the ball. He started much too flatly, then angled deeper too late. The ball — which Statcast said had only a 14% hit probability — dropped for a ground-rule double in the second inning. Lile scored on Jorbit Vivas’ single.

Another mistake occurred in the sixth inning with right-hander Rico Garcia pitching. Vivas hit a grounder to Blaze Alexander at third. Alexander bobbled the ball, then threw it high and wide of first base, which allowed Vivas to reach second. Millas, the soft-hitting catcher, scored Vivas with a single.

At the same time, however, another sequence saved a run. On a double from Luis García Jr. in the sixth, Millas tried to score from first. The relay from Tyler O’Neill to Jackson and then to Tromp at home caught him, maintaining a two-run deficit.

Still, had other defensive plays been made, a strong pitching performance from right-hander Brandon Young may have lasted longer.

By the third inning, Young had set his career-high whiffs tally, and he finished with 23, becoming the first Orioles pitcher to record that many in a start since Kyle Gibson in 2023. He also set a career high with eight strikeouts.

“His fastball had great life today,” Albernaz said.

With a four-seam fastball and splitter, Young kept his club in the game. The splitter, which he primarily used to lefties, forced 11 whiffs. At one point, with two runners in scoring position, Young threw six straight splitters to James Wood, leading to a strikeout to end the fourth.

To begin the fifth, however, García crushed a 3-0 fastball to right field to give Washington the lead.

A trickle-down of all those whiffs from Young was an elevated pitch count. He managed five innings, allowing two runs. It was a solid start, but after producing five straight starts in which he pitched six or more innings, Young has had back-to-back five-inning showings. Still, he is proving his consistency. His ERA is just 3.11.

“I think step one is getting ahead, attacking guys,” Young said. “I think it wasn’t at its best tonight, hence only going five innings. Kept the team in it, but I’d like to go deeper into games, for sure. Throwing too many pitches with two strikes, I think, and not just attacking through the zone like I have been.”

Even then, though, the Orioles had a chance to win. The Nationals almost blew another one.

But in the end, a tag-out at the plate on a contact play helped even this series ahead of Sunday’s matinee. That’s a situation that the Nationals have been practicing since spring training and continue harping on during practice with third-base coach Victor Estévez and field coordinator Tyler Smarslok. Butera said they put a stop clock on to ensure the players go through the drill at game speed. That work turned into a much-needed win.

“It was good to see it come to fruition tonight,” Butera said. “I mean, it couldn’t have been any better.”

This article has been updated.