Logan caps Nats' rally against Diamondbacks

• Article
• Comments ()
• Click-2-Listen
• Videos

By

PHOENIX -- Struggling ballclubs are always going to experience growing pains, especially at this time of the season, when young players are thrust into situations for the first time in their careers.

Exavier Prente "Nook" Logan falls into that category, one of several young Washington Nationals getting a chance to play down the stretch of a losing season.

One moment, Logan might be making a baserunning blunder and getting an earful from his manager. But when he follows that with a clutch hit, like the one that gave the Nationals a 5-4 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks last night, it makes the mistakes much easier to swallow.

Logan came through when his team needed it most, sending a one-out single up the middle in the top of the eighth to score Brian Schneider from second and snap a 4-4 tie.

Washington (63-82) earned its second straight win (fifth in as many games against the Diamondbacks this season) thanks to some solid bullpen work and yet another late rally.

Just as they've done for much of the past two weeks, the Nationals dug themselves into an early hole, then clawed their way back.

This time, they trailed 3-0 after two innings before coming alive in the fourth. Nick Johnson provided the dynamite with a two-run homer down the right-field line, his career-high 22nd of the season.

Washington tied the game two innings later, with a major assist from Diamondbacks right-hander Miguel Batista. With one out and Austin Kearns on second, the right-hander went sprawling to snag Schneider's comebacker. Eschewing an easy out at first, Batista tried to throw Kearns out at third, only to launch the ball all the way to the rail. Kearns came around to score and Schneider wound up on second on Batista's throwing error, which left the game tied 4-4.

Washington might have taken the lead shortly thereafter if not for Logan's baserunning blunder. The 26-year-old center fielder got caught leaning the wrong way on Batista's fake-to-third, throw-to-first move, winding up in a rundown.

That mistake prompted a short dugout lecture from manager Frank Robinson, who calmly but firmly explained to Logan the error of his ways. The young speedster more than made up for it, though, two innings later with his clutch hit.

Schneider had started the rally by reaching on a wild throw by second baseman Orlando Hudson, one of three Diamondbacks errors in the game. Logan, known more for his speed and defense than his bat, followed with a solid single up the middle off reliever Tony Pena to raise his average to .308 in 12 games with the Nationals.

Washington closed out the victory with four straight scoreless innings from its much-maligned bullpen. Chris Schroder, Felix Rodriguez and Chris Booker combined to give up one hit, and Chad Cordero came on with two outs in the eighth before ultimately earning his 26th save (third of more than an inning).

The solid relief work came in the wake of yet another brief outing by a Nationals starting pitcher. Given the current state of his rotation, Robinson practically expects his starter to get knocked out early every night. So it couldn't have come as much surprise when Jason Bergmann was battered by the Diamondbacks last night during his three-plus innings on the mound.

Bergmann was done in by a three-run second, which featured a two-run triple by Stephen Drew just short of the overhang above the right-center fence. The Nationals argued in vain that a fan reached over the rail and interfered with the ball, but it didn't matter in the end because Arizona still would have scored the runs later in the inning on Eric Byrnes' double.

Bergmann managed not to surrender any more runs before departing, but that had more to do with Washington's defense than anything. Alfonso Soriano helped out his pitcher by gunning down Luis Gonzalez trying to tag up from second on a third-inning fly ball, his league-leading 21st assist of the season.

The play of the night, though, came from Schneider, who deftly elected to intentionally drop Batista's popped-up bunt in the fourth. In doing so, Schneider was able to catch the Diamondbacks completely off-guard and start an inning-ending, 2-6-4 double play.

By that point, Bergmann was out of the game, replaced by starter-turned-reliever Mike O'Connor. He allowed three runs and six hits over his three-plus innings, raising his ERA to 6.79 an becoming the third straight Washington starter to fail to make it out of the fourth.