Washington Nationals news & notes: Nick Senzel homers twice; Nats come back from 7-0 in 12-9 win over Marlins…

Notes and quotes on the Nationals’ comeback win over the Marlins in Miami…

SENZEL BOMBS:

Nick Senzel hit a career-high 13 home runs last season, one more than he hit as a rookie in 2019, with 9 of his 13 home runs off of left-handed pitchers, and a .347 AVG with a .619 SLG in his at-bats against lefties on the year.

Senzel, 28, had a rough start to his first season in D.C., breaking his thumb before the first game of the year, but he was heating up in recent days, with three homers in four games.

Manager Davey Martinez decided to move Senzel up to second in the lineup for the 3rd of 4 with the Marlins in Miami, telling reporters he wanted jumpstart the veteran infielder’s bat in a game with a left-hander on the mound, in the form of Fish southpaw Ryan Weathers.

Photo by Brennan Asplen/Getty Images

“He’s notorious about hitting left-handed pitching,” Martinez explained.

“I wanted to break up those lefties [CJ Abrams and Jesse Winker] a little bit. Winker will hit behind him. It balances out our lineup a little bit more. So I decided to do that today.”

He liked what he saw from Senzel in recent days, and considering how things started for his third baseman, it was nice to see himstart to turn things around.

“He’s been good. He’s been really good. He’s had a rough month,” the skipper said.

“He broke his thumb. He’s been sick. So I kind of want to try to jumpstart him a little bit because, like I said, he’s a really good player and he can make things happen.”

“I’m hoping to get him going. We need him. He’s a big part of our lineup. So hopefully, moving him up, he’ll get some good pitches to hit and we can get him going.”

Senzel struck out the first time up against Weathers, and Nats’ starter Patrick Corbin gave up six runs in the home-half of the first, and one in the second, putting the visitors behind by seven runs early.

A fly to center the second time up and Senzel was 0 for 2.

In the fourth, it was 7-3 in the Marlins’ favor, after an RBI double by Jacob Young and a two-run double by CJ Abrams, and Senzel drove Abrams in with a two-run shot to center, off of an 0-1 changeup low and away from Weathers which went 404 ft. to center field for his 4th of the year, and fourth in five games.

His 6th in five games came an inning later, off right-hander Anthony Bender, who left a 2-1 sinker up and in to Senzel, who sent it 411 ft. to center for a three-run home run which put the Nats ahead, 9-7, in what ended up a 12-9 comeback win.

Just how big a comeback win was it?

It was the club’s largest comeback win since July 5, 2018 vs. Miami (when they were down 9-0 and ended up with a 14-12 win), as the Nationals noted after Sunday’s game, and their win was, “… the largest road comeback since April 28, 2015 at Atlanta (Down 9-1, W13-12).”

“We were down and we kept working good at-bats and hit some big home runs. Nick Senzel with two [home runs], which was awesome,” Martinez said after the game. “So, they got to keep fighting. They’re going to keep fighting. Patrick [Corbin] had one really bad inning, but what he did was keep us in the game for four innings, and that’s pretty awesome, and that’s what I know about him. He’s not going to give up, he’s not going to quit. He gave us the innings we needed to put this all together. So it was a good day. Good day for us, we come back tomorrow and try to go 1-0 tomorrow.”

Hitting Senzel second worked out well too.

“I’ve talked to him, I told him, ‘You’re really close, you know,’” Martinez shared.

“I just wanted to push him up, especially against a lefty. I know he hit a home run against the righty, but he’s a guy that he plays hard. I know that about him. I’ve seen him play for many years. I want to get him going.

Photo by Brennan Asplen/Getty Images

“I thought between putting him in between those two lefties, he gets some pitches to hit. And he did and he hit the ball hard.”

For him to have such a big game after the way his season started meant a lot to the skipper.

“It’s awesome. For me it’s definitely gratifying, because towards the end of the spring, we got him in a good place, he got hurt, he came back, [started slow], then he got sick, and to see him bounce back now, it’s awesome. We’re going to need him. We’re going to need his bat in the lineup, we’re going to need his intensity, so it was a good day for him, but a really good day for the Nationals.”

With their third straight win over the Marlins, the Nationals took the series and they have a chance to sweep the four-game set in tonight’s finale.

“The energy was incredible,” Martinez said. “It really was.

“They fed [on it] after every hit, after every run. You can see it. The next guy wanted to get up there and do the same thing.

“Then the next guy wanted to get up there and do the same thing. So it was a good team effort.”