Jackson uses veteran savvy to wiggle out of early jam

Right-hander Edwin Jackson allowed a Giancarlo Stanton home run and three walks in the first inning but managed to get out of the jam.

The veteran ended up lasting six innings and giving up three runs as the Nationals came back to win 8-3.

Walking the bases loaded could have ruined the game, but Jackson held on. With two outs, Tomás Telis lined out to Trea Turner, who dove to his right and made a diving catch, fresh off a return from a broken right wrist, to end the threat.

"That was huge. I didn't have much feel in the first inning," Jackson said. "To be able to get out of that with only the one run, it was definitely a game-changer to help us get into the later innings to be able to do what we did.

"That was definitely a big play by Trea, making a nice play at shortstop to help me get out of that first inning and limit the damage and to be able to continue pitching and keep us in there."

So when you have so much command troubles in the first inning, what do you do then?

"You can definitely have a reset button," Jackson said. "You're definitely fortunate to not have more damage done. You just have to kind of mentally talk to yourself and get ready to go back out there. You have to say it's over, the damage is done, let's not have another inning like that. Let's go and strap it on and continue to get better."

Stanton homered, No. 51, in the first, but Jackson was able to get him with a strikeout in the next at-bat. The next time up, Stanton hit a sacrifice fly to score a run.

"Well, Stanton is not the guy you pick to gauge yourself on, but he got a slider over the plate and Stanton knows what to do with it," manager Dusty Baker said. "So the key was that he led off a couple of innings and there wasn't anybody on base. That's the thing. You got to stop Dee Gordon from getting on in front of him because this club's come back, I think, mostly in their park I think they've come back, three walk-off victories in the ninth I think. You never have enough runs against these guys because they can hit."

Jackson knew facing Stanton would be very difficult. He earned first hand in the opening frame when Stanton turned on his slider and deposited in the left field stands.

"Oh man, you've got to make pitches," Jackson acknowledged. "That's the game of baseball, it's all about execution. When you don't execute, sometimes you get hurt, sometimes you don't. But with a guy like that who's hot like he is right now, you definitely have to make pitches and you can't leave balls over the middle. That pitch that he hit, that's the result."

Jackson said his teammates - on offense and later from the bullpen - made it a pleasant evening when he got off to a bit of a slow start. A two-run single by Daniel Murphy and a three-run double by Anthony Rendon helped keep the Nats ahead.

"I think the biggest thing today, it was great to have an offensive explosion like that," Jackson said. "But for me, definitely the game-changer was the seventh inning, the bullpen coming in and picking me up. That was a hell of a job by Oliver (Pérez) and (Matt) Albers to come in, in the situation they were in and make those pitches and get those outs. That was definitely the game right there. The seventh inning, the back end, we had (Brandon) Kintzler come in and he do what he's been doing. And (Sean) Doolittle come in and do what he's been doing. But that bases loaded, no outs, man ... I put them in a tough situation. The definitely came in and helped us out tonight with that."

The Marlins left 10 men on base and went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position.

Jackson (5-3) has been another amazing find by general manager Mike Rizzo. He looked like his career might be in jeopardy when he couldn't even get out of the Orioles' minor league system at the beginning of the season. Now he has an opportunity to be an arm of extreme value in the postseason.

Rizzo has been able to find a starting pitcher (Jackson), a top notch left fielder (Howie Kendrick), a key bullpen arm (Albers) and a consistent power-hitting bench bat (Adam Lind) to help 2017 be different from what already was a good team in 2016. Maybe these additions can make a bigger difference this year for a Nats club seeking their first playoff series victory.