Kearns delivers clutch hit

Austin Kearns can see the numbers posted on the Nationals Park scoreboard every time he steps to the plate, and they’re not pretty.

Kearns’ batting average sat at a paltry .182, his RBI total at 10 when he came up to hit for the first time last night against the Pittsburgh Pirates. He was mired in a 2-for-29 slump over an eight-game stretch that included zero RBI. His average with runners in scoring position? Try .167.

Through it all, the Washington Nationals right fielder has maintained a steady, relaxed mentality that at times can come across as flippant. Make no mistake, though, Kearns desperately wants to perform better and contribute to his team.

“He cares, and it obviously bothers him,” teammate Ryan Zimmerman said. “But he’s so even-keeled and calm. He knows he’ll come out of it.”

After searching for that elusive clutch hit seemingly the entire month of April, Kearns last night delivered at last. His two-out, RBI single to right in the eighth snapped a tie ballgame and rallied the Nationals to a 3-2 victory, their fourth straight, before a crowd of 24,723.

Kearns’ average remains below .200 even after a 2-for-4 showing last night, and he remains on pace for 61 RBI by season’s end. But there have been signs lately he might be poised to break out at last.

“He’s been hitting the ball hard the last week or so; some are not falling for him,” manager Manny Acta said. “He’s making an adjustment. He’s got five months to put it back together.”

Kearns, who often gets into trouble when trying to pull every pitch to left field, appeared to make a key adjustment in his key at-bat last night. With runners on first and second and two outs, Pirates left-hander John Grabow threw a first-pitch change-up on the outside corner.

Rather than try to yank the ball to left, Kearns calmly stuck his bat out and poked a line drive to right. Cristian Guzman came speeding around third, beat Xavier Nady’s throw to the plate and slid in with the first run Grabow has allowed this season in 14 innings.

“It’s easy to try to do too much there, and sometimes I’ve been guilty of that,” Kearns said. “So I was just trying to keep it simple.”

The late rally made a winner out of Luis Ayala (1-1), who tossed a scoreless eighth, and earned fill-in closer Jon Rauch his sixth save in eight tries, but starter Odalis Perez surely deserved some credit for this victory.

Perhaps baseball’s unluckiest pitcher churned out another impressive performance — two runs allowed in seven innings — but again had nothing to show for it by night’s end. Perez has given up two or fewer runs in six of his first seven starts and boasts a 3.18 ERA.

Yet the veteran lefty’s record remains 0-3, something he refuses to complain about.

“Everyone is trying hard,” he said. “I’m happy to go out there every five days and go six, seven innings. If I don’t get the win, if I pitch good, I feel good.”

Perez certainly pitched well enough to win last night, retiring the first 10 batters he faced before Freddy Sanchez connected for a solo homer in the fourth. Even then, Perez continued along with no trouble, keeping the Pirates to that lone run into the seventh.

But one last mistake on a 1-1 pitch to Ryan Doumit — it landed in the Red Porch seats in left-center — proved costly. Doumit’s blast tied the game 2-2 and, as has been Perez’s luck all season, again denied him a chance to earn his first win.

“Just because he’s not winning doesn’t mean we’re not noticing that every five days he’s been tremendous for us and given us a chance to win,” Acta said.

And thanks to Kearns’ long-awaited clutch hit, everyone in a Nationals uniform could go home happy.