ANAHEIM, Calif. – They delivered in a few big moments, including one huge moment in the top of the ninth against a future Hall of Fame closer. But the best the Nationals could do in regulation today was rally to leave their series finale against the Angels tied heading into extra innings.
At which point they turned things over to their exceptionally well rested closer and asked him to do something he's never done before: Pitch three innings and give his teammates time to take the lead.
Kyle Finnegan did his part, recording a career-high nine outs. And in between outs No. 6 and No. 7, the Nationals finally rallied to score three runs on clutch hits by Drew Millas and CJ Abrams, emerging from a wild Sunday afternoon at Angel Stadium with a rousing, 7-4, 11-inning victory and their first series win in a long time.
Having already tied the game in the top of the ninth on Jacob Young's RBI single off future Hall of Famer Kenley Jansen, the Nationals scored the winning runs two innings later against righty Connor Brogdon, with a rally that was jumpstarted by Daylen Lile's third hit of the game. Millas followed with an RBI double just inside the third base line, scoring automatic runner Brady House. And Abrams followed with a two-run triple just inside the first base line, bringing home Lile and Millas and leaving the visitors' dugout jumping in celebration.
Finnegan, who had faced all of two batters during this entire nine-game trip to that point, finally got a chance to pitch a situation of real consequence. He immediately got himself into trouble in the ninth with a leadoff walk of Christian Moore, though he bounced back to retire the next two batters. And then he caught the kind of break the Nats seemingly couldn't previously catch when Zach Neto stole second but was called out for narrowly oversliding the bag (the same call that cost Lile earlier in the game).
So the game went to the 10th, at which point the Nationals failed to bring their automatic runner home when Nathaniel Lowe skied a fly ball to right and House grounded into a double play. Finnegan, who threw 12 pitches in the ninth, returned for his second inning of work and needed only seven pitches to get his team back to the dugout.
And when his teammates came through in the top of the 11th, there was nobody warming in the bullpen. For the first time in his career, Finnegan was going to re-take the mound for his third inning of relief. And he quickly retired the side on 11 pitches to complete perhaps the best outing of his life.
As a result, the Nationals finally snapped a streak of seven consecutive series lost. They finished their Southern California trip with a 4-5 record, three of the losses coming by one run.
The Nats had already managed to tie it up 3-3 in the seventh when they finally caught their first break of the day, with Los Angeles shortstop Kevin Newman losing CJ Abrams’ popup in the sun, allowing Young to score all the way from first base.
But that moment was oh so fleeting. The Angels came right back to re-take the lead in the bottom of the inning when Lile struggled to corral Luis Rengifo’s ball in the right field corner, turning it into a triple. Two batters later, Jose A. Ferrer’s low changeup scooted through Millas’ legs, allowing Rengifo to score without benefit of another hit.
The Nationals did not score their first time through the order against Jack Kochanowicz, stranding one runner in scoring position and having another called out on the bases when Lile stole second but barely overslid the bag, a call overturned on the Angels’ challenge even though replays did not appear to be definitive. (That point of contention would come into play again three innings later.)
They did start putting together quality at-bats their second time through against Kochanowicz, especially during a two-out rally in the top of the fourth that saw Nathaniel Lowe draw a full-count walk, Josh Bell single to right and then House go the other way with an outside pitch to send an RBI double down the right field line.
Then came the wackiest play of the day – maybe the season – with one out in the fifth and the bases loaded. Luis García Jr. ripped a sharp grounder to first, at which point Nolan Schanuel had to decide where to go with it: Throw to the plate, throw to second or step on first? He chose the final option, retiring García, but then fired to the plate in hopes of pulling off a 3-2 double play.
Millas scored ahead of the throw, with catcher Logan O’Hoppe dropping the ball anyway. And that prompted Jacob Young to try to score as well. As both runner and catcher converged at the plate at the same time, Young missed it while trying to elude O’Hoppe’s tag. Plate umpire Mark Ripperger did not initially make a call, so Young dived back to the plate and touched it with his right hand and began to celebrate … until Ripperger then pointed to his thigh to suggest O’Hoppe had tagged him and ruled Young out.
The Nationals challenged the call, and once again replays did not appear to conclusively show Young had been tagged. And once again replay officials in New York ruled against the Nats, prompting Davey Martinez to come out of the dugout and argue with Ripperger, who was required to eject the manager (who is not allowed to argue replay calls).
So after all that, the Nationals led 2-1, believing the score should have been 3-1, Miguel Cairo now left to manage the remainder of a tight ballgame in Martinez’s stead.
Mitchell Parker, meanwhile, didn’t enjoy a clean first inning – he walked two and surrendered a double in between – but he did manage to limit the damage to one run, which by his standards is something of a win. The left-hander, who has often done himself in before he even has a chance to settle in, found himself down 1-0 but then did find his groove and kept the Angels off the board until the sixth.
The key moments that allowed Parker to do so: A strikeout of Travis d’Arnaud on a 92 mph fastball to strand a pair in the bottom of the first, then a grounder to short off Jo Adell’s bat to strand another runner in scoring position in the bottom of the third.
Parker made it through the fifth at 71 pitches, only one run across the plate, but then he couldn’t finish what he started. The Angels recorded three straight hits to open the sixth, the tying run scoring and Cairo coming out of the dugout to remove his starter and turn to his bullpen. Cole Henry would induce a big double play to put himself in position to escape the jam, but then surrendered an RBI single to Moore that put the Angels back on top, 3-2, all three runs officially charged to Parker.