Washington Nationals news & notes: Nats walk off on Astros; Party like it’s 2019…

Notes and quotes from the Nationals’ walk-off win over the Astros…

“Look, I’ve known Trevor for a while,” Nationals’ manager Davey Martinez told reporters after he pulled Trevor Williams at 77 pitches on the road in Oakland, with Washington up 6-1 over the A’s. Williams got through five innings on 67 pitches, giving up just one run, but a walk to the leadoff batter in the sixth inning, and a one-out double put runners on first and third, so Martinez went to the bullpen.

“Right about that 80-pitch mark, I think that’s good for him,” the Nats’ skipper told reporters.

“My decision was to take him out. He did great. We were up five runs. We just couldn’t close it out.”

Derek Law gave up back-to-back singles which scored both runners he’d inherited, then a third run scored on a wild pitch, and back-to-back walks eventually came around too, and the A’s were suddenly up 7-6.

On Saturday afternoon in the nation’s capital, Williams held the Houston Astros to one run on three hits through six innings, which he completed on 77 pitches, then Martinez pulled him to go with lefty Robert Garcia against two lefties around a right-handed bat due up in the seventh with a 2-1 lead.

Single, walk, single, and it was a 2-2 game. A third run scored with Hunter Harvey on the mound, and the Astros added another run in the eighth for a 4-2 lead.

In the top of the ninth, however, Nick Senzel reached on a catcher’s interference call, CJ Abrams doubled to right, and Jesse Winker singled to drive in two runs, 4-4.

It went to extras and Joey Meneses drove in the free runner for a walk-off win.

In hindsight, did Martinez have any second thoughts about pulling Williams when he did?

“Our pitching has been really good,” the manager said. “I can’t say enough about Trevor.

“Trevor has been outstanding all year. We had it set up to where I thought our bullpen could come in, we had Garcia on those lefties, and he just fell behind, he couldn’t get the outs we needed and [Hunter] Harvey did a great job of just keeping us close.”

So, if Williams is rolling in the future, will Martinez continue to pull him around 80 pitches? Or will he start giving the starter a longer leash?

“Not right now,” Martinez said. “I want to keep him on the — we got to remember, he just started starting [again] last year. He got worn down at the end last year, so I want to keep him going. Maybe when it starts getting really warm out there and we need him because our bullpen is beat up, yeah, if he’s doing what he’s doing now, he can maybe get us in that seventh inning.

“But, like I said, he’s done well, I’m trying to keep his pitch count down. He’s giving us five or six innings, I think he feels fresh every time he goes out there, so he’s been great.”

And the walk-off winner by Meneses?

“It was definitely magic,” Martinez said. “We played a lot of games like that in ‘19. I can reiterate that the boys don’t quit.”

NO REGRATS:

The run from 19-31 to the first World Series championship for a D.C.-based team since 1924 was an exhilaratingly bumpy road which did indeed lead to a beautiful place.

But the fun (after the parade down Constitution Ave.) came to a rather abrupt halt when the COVID pandemic ended the celebration months later.

Davey Martinez and his club never got to enjoy their World Series championship tour in 2020, the way other teams took a victory lap post-title at least, and looking back that is really one thing (maybe the only thing) which lingers as a negative.

“Yeah, definitely,” Martinez said as the club kicked off their five-year anniversary weekend in Nationals Park.

“We missed out on a lot. I always go back and I always go back to my coaching staff too, where we had a chance to go to the All-Star Game, they didn’t go. I went, and I felt bad, honestly, I really didn’t want to go without them, but it’s always an honor to go, but I felt bad for them. I felt bad for the guys. It was really a big tour for us that year to play, and we never got to do that.”

Instead, it was empty ballparks and COVID protocols with fans watching from home, locked down during the pandemic.

Martinez, his staff, and his players never got their victory lap, and the fans never really got to savor what the club did for Washington in bringing the title to D.C.

Photo by Mark Goldman/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

“When I talk about the team, and I always mention this, they’re the 26th man, right?” Martinez said in acknowledging all the fan base contributed and missed out on.

“Without them there’s really nothing. And we experienced that in ‘20, playing without the fans here. It was terrible. It really was.

“But it was what it was. They’re always included when I talk about any of our teams. I love the fans.”

The players and coaches who are still in D.C. or could make it, and the fans who are in Nats Park this weekend will get a chance to celebrate it all again, but the skipper said he has things around him to help him remember what they all were able to do together on a daily basis.

“Every time I look at my ring and my trophy,” Martinez said, “I always feel like it was yesterday, so it’s a good feeling.”