Don’t feel bad about being superstitious when you’re watching the Nats, because manager Davey Martinez, he feels ya.
“I don’t claim to be superstitious, but when you got a no-hitter, I was freezing my butt off and didn’t want to put a jacket on and I stayed with this, just this sweatshirt the whole game,” Martinez told reporters after Washington’s 2-0 Game 1 NLCS win.
Anibal Sanchez took a no-hitter into the eighth inning, finally surrendering his first hit to Cardinals’ pinch-hitter with two outs in the eighth.
Martinez decided to remain jacket-less even with the no-hitter off the table.
He did go to the mound, sans jacket, to summon Sean Doolittle to the game to try to close things out.
“We have a shutout, Doo comes in, still didn’t want to put a jacket on, so it worked out,” Martinez said.
Doolittle pitched an inning and a third of perfect relief to get the save.
Update on Daniel Hudson: The effort by Sanchez to get so deep into the game was even more key for Washington given that closer Daniel Hudson wasn’t available due to the birth of a child on Friday morning.
Martinez said Hudson will be back with the team for Game 2.
“Yeah, he’s got a 6 o’clock flight. He’ll be here for the game,” Martinez said.
Story by Chris Graham