Nats take advantage of break

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By Mark Zuckerman THE WASHINGTON TIMES

ATLANTA | The crowd squealed with delight as three Atlanta Braves players stormed around the bases and crossed the plate. The hometown team had just scored three times in the ninth to beat the Washington Nationals by a run.

Not so fast.

Had Kelly Johnson's bases-loaded blast off Joel Hanrahan remained in the field of play, the Braves and their fans could have celebrated. But that deep drive off the warning track in right-center field caromed up over the fence and into the bleachers, a ground-rule double that forced Atlanta to send the winning runner back to third base and keep Washington's slim hopes alive.

"I'm thinking positive, that we're going to catch the ball," manager Manny Acta said. "But as soon as I saw [right fielder] Elijah [Dukes] didn't catch the ball, I thought the ballgame was over.

"Then I saw it bounce over. We caught a break."

Some 30 minutes later, Acta and his Nationals could laugh about it all back inside the visitors' clubhouse at Turner Field. Somehow, they escaped, getting out of that jam and then scoring three times in the 10th to pull off an 8-5 win.

"We've had some of those before work against us," Acta said. "That's how the game goes. We're doing better now, so here and there we're going to catch a break."

The Nationals didn't just catch the break, they took advantage of it. Pinch hitter Ryan Langerhans ignited the winning rally with a leadoff homer off Atlanta closer Mike Gonzalez, the Nationals' fifth solo homer of the evening.

Cristian Guzman later tripled and scored on Ryan Zimmerman's double just inside the right-field foul line. A single by Elijah Dukes - capping a 4-for-5, three RBI night - made it 8-5 and provided some cushion for right-hander Steven Shell, who earned his second career save in the bottom of the 10th.

"You want to try to get the momentum back in a hurry when you go to extra innings like that," Langerhans said. "So to put us back in the lead, it felt pretty good."