Martin, Nats cruise past Reds

CINCINNATI | For most of this season, the Washington Nationals have failed to fare consistently well after emerging from long stretches of poor results.

Eight times this season, they’ve gone on losing streaks of four or more games. And after ending those streaks, they answered by winning consecutive games only four times.

The Nationals have arrived at baseball’s worst record by building a succession of long losing streaks, then failing to counter them with a series of wins. But with an eight-game winning streak under interim manager Jim Riggleman last week, they began to change that trend.

They took a less publicized but equally vital step on Saturday night with a 10-6 win over the Cincinnati Reds. Arriving at Great American Ball Park having put an end to a three-game losing streak the night before, the Nationals came right back with the kind of definitive win that shows they’re going to fight through the last six weeks of the season.

Washington roared to a 10-1 lead, tagging Reds starter Johnny Cueto for seven runs in 2 2/3 innings and tallying three more on former teammate Kip Wells, while J.D. Martin turned in six solid innings. Not only had the Nationals kept a losing streak from getting out of hand on Friday, but they also followed it with a win that gives them a chance to salvage a split in a six-game road trip that began terribly.

The Nationals’ surge started as a trickle in the second inning, when Adam Dunn punched a short home run to left field, his 31st of the year and his first as a visitor in his old ballpark. But Cueto, who has followed a superb start to the year with a two-month slide in which he’s as likely to implode as be effective, kept serving up hittable pitches. And the Nationals kept blasting him.

They racked up six runs on six hits in the third inning, the big blow coming on Alberto Gonzalez’s two-out, bases-loaded double. Then, with the same situation in the fourth inning, Elijah Dukes delivered another one of the pivotal shots the Nationals have been incapable of landing for most of the year.

Dukes tripled to right, scoring three runs and putting the Nationals up 10-1, effectively giving Martin license to cruise for the rest of the night.

That’s pretty much all Martin did. He threw 54 of his 93 pitches for strikes, never displaying precise command of his stuff but registering enough quick outs to keep the Reds from mounting a comeback attempt.

No, that happened in the presence of Logan Kensing.

The reeling reliever came in with the Nationals up 10-1 in the seventh inning, and with two outs, proceeded to breathe faint life into a game that should have been settled. He walked Chris Dickerson, then gave up two hits before Drew Sutton launched a two-run homer into the Nationals’ bullpen, pulling the Reds within 10-5.

There was still no major cause for concern, but it was the latest in a string of unsightly showings for Kensing. He’s given up 12 earned runs in his last 7 1/3 innings and has a 10.46 ERA this season.

Given the fact the Nationals are carry a bloated eight-man bullpen and interim manager Jim Riggleman has said they’ll probably reduce that number to seven in favor of an extra bench player in the near future, it’s conceivable Kensing’s second major league stint with the Nationals this season is coming to an end.

His night wasn’t the only nit to pick with this one. Washington made three errors, two of them on pickoff attempts by Martin.

But not even those things could sour the Nationals’ night too much. No matter how they did it, it was crucial for the Nationals to keep things going right for more than a day. And they did it.