Washington Nationals news & notes: Nats walk off on Angels, 3-2; Alex Call big hit in extras…

Notes and quotes from the Nationals’ walk-off win over the Angels last night in D.C.

WALK-OFF WIN:

With the Nationals trailing 2-1 in the eighth inning on Friday night in the nation’s capital, Alex Call singles with one out, moved to third on a single by Luis García, Jr., and scored the tying on a sac fly by Juan Yepez, 2-2. Call came up again in the home-half of the 10th, and the 29-year-old outfielder battled flamethrowing LA Angels’ reliever Ben Joyce for six pitches, then hit a 99.1 MPH fastball low and away through the right side of the infield for a walk-off hit, 3-2 Washington.

It was Call’s second walk-off hit of his career, with the last, as the Nationals noted in the post game notes for last night’s game, coming on May 4, 2023 vs. Chicago (NL). It was the club’s second walk-off win of the season, and the 30th comeback win of the 2024 campaign.

“The boys wanted it. They wanted it tonight. You could tell,” manager Davey Martinez said in his post game press conference. “They didn’t want another extra innings and not win.

“They wanted to celebrate. And it was good for them.”

Call, Martinez said, put together a good at-bat, against a tough pitcher, and came up with a big hit the club really needed.

“The first swing he took he got really big, the second swing he was just trying to put the ball in play,” the skipper explained. “The guy’s throwing 100 MPH, sometimes you just got to make contact and make the pitcher supply the juice. He stayed on that ball really well, didn’t try to do too much, and hit a line drive, I think the ball knuckled on him, so it was a great at-bat.”

Call wasn’t sure it was a hit off the bat.

“It just looked like it was going right in [Angels’ second baseman Luis Guillorme’s] glove. So I was kind of deflated,” Call told reporters, as quoted by MASN’s Mark Zuckerman.

“Because I hit it hard. And then it just happened fast: I saw the ball floating, and I was like, ‘Oh, my gosh. He didn’t catch it. Time to have some fun!’”

“It’s awesome. Any time we get to pull out a win it’s awesome,” Mitchell Parker said after the starter gave the Nationals 6 ¹⁄₃ innings, giving up eight hits and two runs (both unearned). It was a solid outing for the lefty, who struck out five.

“Mitchell Parker … kept us in the ballgame, did really well,” Martinez said of the lefty’s effort.

“He was good, he was good. He was attacking the strike zone. He had the guys put the ball in play.

“He pitched really well. … We needed that. He was another guy who come the seventh inning, he was adamant about going back out and I love that.”

Jacob Barnes gave the Nationals 1 ²⁄₃ scoreless after Parker was done, and then closer Kyle Finnegan threw two frames in the ninth and 10th before Call’s walk-off winner.

“[Finnegan] actually came to me [after the top of the ninth] and said he wanted to go back out,” Martinez said after the game, “… and I just looked at him and said, ‘Well, I want to win right here and not send you back out, but if we have to, then yeah, and if you feel good we’ll send you back out. And he went out there and got big outs for us.”

After the second scoreless inning for Finnegan, Call came up with the big hit in a 3-2 win.

“Sometimes it only takes one more than the other guys, like I always say,” Martinez reiterated.

“Good at-bat by Call. We did the little things a little better today. Moving guys over, sac fly, so it was a good win.”

NOTES:

• via the Nationals: “Alex Call finished the game, “… 3-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored and has now hit safely in nine of his last 10 starts…He is 17-for-31 (.548) with four doubles, a homer, eight RBI, six walks, three stolen bases and five runs scored in 11 total games in his latest Major League stint.”

• Abrams Scratched: C.J. Abrams was a late scratch before the opener with the Angels, with Davey Martinez in his post game presser explaining the shortstop had back spasms. “So we’ll see how he feels tomorrow.”

Rendon Returns: Anthony Rendon returned to Nationals Park for the first time in five years, and the former Nats’ infielder, who was part of the 2019 World Series championship roster, got a tribute video and a nice welcome back to his former home.

“We shared a special moment together, as everybody knows,” Davey Martinez said before the series opener in D.C. “He’s meant a lot to this organization. I remember coming in here when I was on the other side, watching him play and I thought, ‘Man, this guy is an unbelievable player. He can hit. When I first saw him he was playing second base, and then they moved him over to third. I said, this guy can play. To be able to manage him and know who he is, as we all know he’s very laid back, he played hard every day though, and I knew what I was going to get from him every single day. He didn’t say much, he just went out there and played the game. And I love that about him. He was very special. I say this, but he was a big part of why we did what we did in ‘19. We lost him there for a little while because he hurt himself, but when he came back, he left off right where he was.”