Crazy Eights: Nats on longest win streak since ‘05
WASHINGTON —Adam Dunn can easily summarize the Washington Nationals’ surprising turnaround.
“It’s everyone finally just saying: ‘What do we have to lose? We can’t play any worse than we’re playing,’” Dunn said.
Lately, the Nationals are playing better than anyone in baseball.
The Nationals have won eight straight games — their second-longest winning streak in their five seasons in the nation’s capital — after a 9-2 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday. They won 10 straight from June 2-12, 2005.
“I knew we were capable of playing like this,” Dunn said. “I wish we would have played this loose and had fun early in the year, and we wouldn’t be how many games back.”
When Jim Riggleman replaced Manny Acta four weeks ago, the Nationals were 26-61. They’re 14-11 since.
“Now It’s good that we’re finally playing the way we’re capable, but it’s frustrating because we should have been playing like this since Day One,” Dunn said.
Dunn hit a two-run home run, giving him at least 30 in six straight seasons, Ryan Zimmerman had three hits and scored three times, and Elijah Dukes drove in three runs.
But the happiest man in the locker room was J.D. Martin (1-2), a 26-year-old who finally reached the big leagues last month and got his first win and first hit. He allowed one run and five hits in five innings with one walk and one strikeout.
He also earned a shaving cream pie to the face for his effort.
“I kind of anticipated it,” Martin said. “I feel like part of the team now.”
Martin’s only mistake came three pitches in, when Trent Oeltjen led off the game with a homer. It was Oeltjen’s second home run in four major league games.
Mark Reynolds homered in the eighth inning off Jorge Sosa — his 36th of the season. Reynolds homered in each of the three games this weekend and has 11 in his last 13 games.
Sosa pitched the final 2 1-3 innings for his second save.
At Philadelphia, Josh Johnson pitched six impressive innings, helping the Marlins complete a three-game sweep.
The Marlins moved within four games of the NL East-leading Phillies with their first sweep in Philadelphia since April 2004. The Phillies fell to 3-8 since acquiring reigning AL Cy Young Award winner Cliff Lee in a blockbuster deal with Cleveland on July 29.
Johnson (11-2) allowed one run and four hits, striking out six. The All-Star right-hander is 18-3 since having Tommy John surgery in August 2007.
At Houston, Wandy Rodriguez pitched seven shutout innings and Geoff Blum hit a two-run homer for the Astros.
Rodriguez (11-6) allowed five hits and struck out three in his first start since leaving his outing eight days ago with a strained right hamstring. The left-hander won his sixth straight decision and gave up one earned run or fewer for the seventh consecutive appearance.
Jose Valverde got the final four outs for Houston to earn his 15th save of the season and second of the series.
At Pittsburgh, Skip Schumaker’s first career pinch-hit home run started a five-run eighth-inning rally for St. Louis that included Pirates pitcher Matt Capps’ ejection for hitting Albert Pujols, and the Cardinals finished off a three-game sweep.
Joel Pineiro (10-9) fell behind 3-0 as Steve Pearce hit a two-run homer, but stayed in to pitch seven innings and improve to 4-0 in his last seven starts.
At San Francisco, Aaron Harang ended the worst winless stretch of his career with his first victory since late May, and Brandon Phillips and Adam Rosales each homered for the Reds.
The lowly Reds — led by former San Francisco skipper Dusty Baker — took the series by winning both games started by Giants All-Stars Matt Cain and Tim Lincecum.
At Denver, Todd Helton had three hits to extended his hitting streak to 14 games, and Dexter Fowler scored three times for the Rockies.
Carlos Gonzalez also had three hits for Colorado, which had 14 hits.Milton Bradley went 4-for-5 and Koyie Hill had three hits for the Cubs, who had a season-high 17 hits despite playing most of the game without manager Lou Piniella, who was ejected for arguing with second base umpire Chris Guccione over a disputed second-inning double-play.
At San Diego, Johan Santana threw eight strong innings and tied his career high with two hits and an RBI as the Mets avoided a four-game sweep.
Santana (13-8) tied for the major league lead in wins, holding the Padres to one run on five hits as New York won for only the third time in 11 games.
The win snapped the Mets’ eight-game losing streak at Petco Park and was just their third win against San Diego in 15 games.
At Los Angeles, Javier Vazquez won his fifth straight decision with eight solid innings and the Braves took three of four games in the weekend series.
Vazquez (10-7) reached double digits in wins for the 10th consecutive season, handing the NL West-leading Dodgers their 10th loss in 15 games. The Braves have won five of their last six, and are four games over .500 (58-54) for the first time since they were 5-1 on April 12.
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