After 10-day layoff, Nats bench plays and delivers in win

It had been 10 days since Amed Rosario, Nasim Nuñez and Alex Call last found themselves in the Nationals’ starting lineup. That’s an eternity for big leaguers who were on the active roster that entire time but were confined to the bench, keeping themselves ready in case the call came but never actually participating (aside from one token inning in the field for Nuñez at the end of a blowout win in Seattle).

So when the opportunity finally presented itself Wednesday night, with all three reserves finding themselves in Davey Martinez’s lineup against Cubs left-hander Matthew Boyd, it admittedly took a little while to get back into the swing of things.

Once they did, all three contributed in meaningful ways, making the Nats’ 2-0 victory possible.

“We’re mentally strong,” Nuñez said. “We understand the situation that we haven’t played in a while, so we do what we have to do to stay ready and help the team win some type of way.”

It began in the field with Call chasing down Seiya Suzuki’s fifth-inning blooper in shallow right, making a diving stab at the ball and immediately jogging off the field confident he had recorded the third out. The Cubs did challenge, believing Call trapped the ball in his glove after it touched grass, but there wasn’t enough conclusive evidence to overturn, so the initial call stood.

Then it was Rosario’s turn at the plate. With the game still scoreless and Boyd having only allowed his first baserunner in the sixth (on Nuñez’s walk), Rosario came up to bat to lead off the seventh and went after the left-hander’s first-pitch fastball. The pitch, as it turns out, was well off the plate. But Rosario found a way to reach out and still make solid contact, the ball sailing on a line toward the right field wall.

Did he think it would clear the wall?

“Not really,” Rosario said, via interpreter Mauricio Ortiz. “That’s why I kind of sprinted toward first.”

The veteran infielder was able to slow down once he reached first base and coast the rest of the way around, because it did clear the wall and landed in the glove of Nats bullpen catcher Jarrett Gonzales for the solo homer that gave the Nationals a 1-0 lead.

Rosario said he was “ready for anything” from Boyd. Nuñez told a slightly different version of the story.

“He told me he wasn’t going to get a fastball. And he got a fastball, and then he hit a home run,” the young infielder said. “I was like: ‘You’re a liar!’”

Nuñez would have his moment the following inning. With one out and Call (who singled to lead off the eighth) at first base, he battled through a 10-pitch at-bat against Boyd, fouling off everything the Cubs starter offered up. And then he finally got something he could handle and turned on the 10th pitch, ripping a double down the third base line, the ball reaching the left field corner as Call raced all the way around to score a huge insurance run.

“It was kind of fun,” Nuñez said. “As that at-bat was going, I was just competing at that point. Who was going to let up first, and I didn’t want it to be me.”

“That’s a heck of an at-bat against a guy who’s throwing the ball really well,” manager Davey Martinez said. “It was awesome.”

With those contributions, the Nationals might well have wasted MacKenzie Gore’s seven scoreless inning gem against one of the best lineups in baseball. Thanks to those contributions from three guys who hadn’t seen the field in quite some time but made sure they remained ready through it all, this turned into one of the Nats’ better wins of the season.

“It’s my mentality,” Rosario said. “That’s a big influence I always try to come and get prepared as if I’m in the lineup.”