ANAHEIM, Calif. – The Nationals may not have played a sloppier game all season. Tonight’s series opener against the Angels included defensive mistakes, baserunning gaffes and poor starting pitching.

So how was it the Nats were the ones celebrating at the center of the diamond at the end of a wacky, 15-9 victory at Angel Stadium? Because on a night in which they did so many things wrong, they also enjoyed their best offensive performance in four years and got just enough quality work from the back of their bullpen to pull off an escape act.

They easily established new season highs in runs (15) and hits (19). They scored in seven of their nine offensive innings, including six straight from the fourth through the ninth. All nine starters delivered at least one hit and at least one RBI. All nine reached base multiple times, with seven players delivering multiple hits.

"We outslugged them," manager Davey Martinez said with a laugh when asked about the rare combination of explosive offense and sloppy defense and baserunning. "Look, we came out victorious. We didn't play all that good the first six innings. It was a little sloppy. But we hung in there, and we hit the ball."

The 15 runs are the most the Nationals have scored in a game since they plated 18 against the Marlins on July 19, 2021, a month that did not end well for a franchise that decided to tear down the remnants of its championship roster and embark on a rebuild that continues four years later.

And this one came on the heels of a 1-0 loss in San Diego on Wednesday in which the exact same lineup totaled three singles and zero walks.

"I think there's a trust in the guys that at any given moment, any given game, we can pop off for 10-plus runs," designated hitter Josh Bell said. "It's definitely nice to see that, especially after the last couple of series. It's a good step in the right direction, and hopefully we can keep this thing going."

The official game-winning hit was credited to Brady House, whose RBI double down the third base line in the top of the seventh brought Bell all the way home from first and broke a temporary 9-9 deadlock.

"I kind of blacked out a little bit," House said of his fourth career RBI and second career extra-base hit. "It was a big moment. I just tried to get a pitch I could do something with. I got that pitch, and just tried to stay disciplined at the same time."

Nathaniel Lowe added a key insurance run in the top of the eighth with his second RBI double of the game. And then they piled on with four more runs in the top of the ninth off 2019 World Series champion Hunter Strickland, allowing Kyle Finnegan to take a seat in the bullpen and let Zach Brzykcy finish it off.

Brzykcy joined with Brad Lord and Jose A. Ferrer in churning out four scoreless innings in relief of a highly ineffective Jake Irvin. Lord (1 2/3 innings), Ferrer (1 1/3 perfect innings) and Brzykcy managed to inherit a slugfest and flip the script on the Angels en route to victory.

"Coming into any close game like that, you feel the pressure of: 'I've got to shut them down, throw up a zero,'" Lord said. "I just try to treat it like any other outing, execute the game plan and just go right after these guys."

The game began innocuously enough, with both starting pitchers posting zeros in the first inning to suggest we might be in for a low-scoring pitchers’ duel. Oh, how wrong we were for even suggesting that.

The fireworks show began in the top of the second when Bell drove a ball 420 feet to the opposite field for his 11th homer of the season, his second on this trip. The Nationals led 2-0, but no lead was safe for either team in this game.

"That felt good," said Bell, who is now 6-for-21 with two homers, six RBIs and three walks through the first seven games of this West Coast trip. "Anytime I barrel the ball in the air, good things happen. I think I'm in a good place. I've had a bit of tough luck this past month, but I'm just hoping balls will continue to fly, especially as it gets hotter."

The Angels struck right back against Irvin, and they did so with some major displays of power. Jo Adell, Nolan Schanuel and Taylor Ward each homered during one trip through the lineup between the second and third innings, the 17th, 18th and 19th home runs surrendered by Irvin this season.

The Nats, though, kept striking right back with a flurry of loud hits off Los Angeles starter Jose Soriano. Jacob Young (at the time batting .357 over his last 10 games) laced a two-out, two-run double, and CJ Abrams followed with his own RBI single. Three straight hits to open the fifth, including Lowe’s RBI double, brought an end to Soriano’s night. And when Daylen Lile singled up the middle off reliever Connor Brogdon, the Nationals had taken an 8-7 lead in the top of the fifth.

"Sometimes they come in bunches, and sometimes they're spread out throughout the game," House said. "But we were kind of consistent throughout the whole game, which we're super happy with."

Few starters would get the opportunity to retake the mound at that point and try to record three more outs to qualify for the win, but Irvin got the opportunity. And then didn’t take advantage of it. He retired only one of the three batters he faced in the fifth before Martinez signaled to the bullpen, Irvin ultimately charged with a career-high eight earned runs in only 4 1/3 innings. Thanks to his teammates, he received no decision.

"The offense went out there and did their thing, and it was awesome to watch," he said. "It definitely softens the blow a little bit. Man, it was just cool to see them do their thing."

Technically, the Angels scored nine runs off Irvin. That’s because of the only official error of the night, charged to Luis García Jr. when he let a potential inning-ending 4-6-3 double play get past him. García would bounce back to make a couple of tougher plays later, but that one gaffe loomed large in a game that featured way too many gaffes of all shapes and sizes.

There were several other defensive plays not made, including another potential double play that Abrams couldn’t handle and an ill-advised throw from center field to the plate by Young that allowed the trailing runner to advance. There were mistakes on the bases as well, most notably Lile getting picked off first moments after his clutch RBI single in the fifth.

Those are the kind of "little things" Martinez seemingly preaches five times a week. He mentioned them again this afternoon in articulating the primary reason his team has lost three one-run games on this road trip.

Then his team took the field and proceeded to commit more "little thing" mistakes than they have in perhaps any game this season to date. And yet still emerged victorious at night’s end. Go figure.

"Hey," Martinez said, "I'd rather win those games than lose them."