Kevin Keyes hit a go-ahead solo home run in the bottom of the eighth inning to propel the Nationals to their third straight win beating the Carolina Mudcats 4-3. In the game, Drew Storen made his second rehab appearance with the Nationals allowing two runs, one of them earned in an inning of work.
With one out in the bottom of the eighth, Keyes hit his tenth home run of the season to the opposite field off reliever J.D. Reichenbach (3-3) to put the Nationals in front for good. It’s the second straight one-run win for the Nationals.
Storen (1-0) recorded the win in his outing as he allowed a hit and a walk in the eighth inning. The earned run allowed came in on a sacrifice fly by Carlos Moncrief.
In addition to Storen, Xavier Nady made his first rehab appearance with the P-Nats. Currently on the 15-Day DL with left wrist tendinitis, Nady was 0-for-1 in two plate appearances walking on five pitches in the first inning before striking out swinging in the fourth. He played five innings in right field before he was replaced by Keyes.
Jason Martinson broke the scoreless tie leading off the bottom of the second inning with a solo home run to right field, his fifth of the season.
Carolina struck right back in the top of the third to tie the game. Tyler Cannon led off with a single and was sacrificed up to second base by Justin Toole. Toni Wolters brought in Cannon with an RBI double to deep left-center field to tie the game at 1-1.
Potomac regained the lead in the bottom of the fifth on a wild play. J.P Ramirez was at first base with two outs and Adrian Sanchez at the plate. Ramirez broke to steal second base and Sanchez hit a slow chopper up the third base line. Sanchez beat out the play for a single and the throw got away allowing Ramirez to score to give the Nationals a 2-1 lead.
Martinson picked up his second RBI of the game in the sixth inning with a sacrifice fly. Ricky Hague slid in safely just ahead of the tag by catcher Alex Monsalve to boost the lead to 3-1.
The Mudcats took advantage of some sloppy defense by the Nationals to tie the game at 3-3 in the eighth. With Storen on the mound, Wolters led off with a walk and moved up to second on a single by Bo Greenwell. After a sac bunt by Giovanny Urshela, Wolters scored on the sac fly by Moncrief to bring Carolina with a run. Then the Mudcats tied the game on a play with multiple errors by Martinson. Anthony Gallas reached on a fielding error by Martinson and Greenwell was able to score on another fielding error by Martinson as the throw from first base got away.
Lost in the late game heroics was another strong start by P-Nats righty Trevor Holder. He struck out a season-high eight batters in seven innings yielding just one run on six hits. Holder has gone at least seven innings in four of his last five starts.
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Chris Graham
