NEW YORK — Odalis Perez pitched great for more than a month and had nothing to show for it. Last night, he put 13 men on base in 61/3 innings and somehow came away with his first win of the season … not to mention the first three-hit game of his career.
Salvation sometimes comes in surprising and unconventional ways for a ballplayer.
And for a Washington Nationals ballclub that surely needed last night’s 10-4 victory over the New York Mets, a game that saw manager Manny Acta’s team bust out at the plate for the first time in a long time.
“It’s nice to see it,” Acta said. “Obviously we know that one game is not going to change the whole thing. But I know that these guys are better hitters than what they are showing right now.”
The Nationals (16-23) were coming off a three-game sweep at the hands of the Florida Marlins, including a demoralizing loss Sunday in which reliever Luis Ayala blew a two-run, eighth-inning lead.
So it had to ease some fears when Washington marched into rain-soaked Shea Stadium and emerged with a lopsided win in the first of a four-game series.
That Perez finally earned his first win with the Nationals on this night was somewhat remarkable. He had pitched far better in at least six of his previous eight outings and had nothing to show for it, yet this time was awarded a victory despite allowing four runs on 11 hits in 61/3 ragged innings.
Shows just how much offensive support matters to a starting pitcher’s won-loss record.
“We know he’s going to come out and give us quality starts,” center fielder Lastings Milledge said. “All we need is a couple of runs, and he’s going to go out and do the rest. We really, really concentrated on giving him some runs because we haven’t been supporting him with runs yet this year. Once we broke out and scored, I knew we’d be OK.”
Perez (1-3) might not have been his sharpest last night, but he did manage to minimize the damage. He allowed only two extra-base hits of consequence — Damion Easley’s solo homer in the second and Moises Alou’s bloop double that fell between three fielders in the third — before David Wright connected for a garbage-time homer in the seventh.
Otherwise, the veteran lefty made pitches when he needed to, striking out Carlos Delgado with two on in the first and getting Wright to ground out with two on in the second.
That bought time for the Nationals’ lineup to come to life against New York starter Nelson Figueroa, who was all over the place during his five innings of work. Figueroa (2-3) wasn’t helped much by his defense, namely Delgado, whose throwing error in the second set the stage for Washington to score its first run.
But Figueroa didn’t help his own cause either, particularly in the fourth, when he fielded Felipe Lopez’s comebacker with men on second and third and needed only to lob the ball to the plate to retire Rob Mackowiak. Instead, the journeyman right-hander fired the ball to the backstop, allowing a stunned Mackowiak to score and drawing boos from the crowd of 45,321.
The Nationals capitalized on the Mets’ mistakes and turned this one into a rout in the fifth and sixth innings. Jesus Flores’ two-run double in the fifth snapped a 3-3 tie and was immediately followed by Perez’s RBI single to right.
One inning later, Milledge roped a double off reliever Jorge Sosa to notch his first two RBI in 11 games. And when Perez (a career .130 hitter) lined another RBI single up the middle to make him the first Nationals pitcher to record a three-hit game since Livan Hernandez on April 19, 2006, a most unlikely rout was on.
“I’m a lucky guy,” Perez said. “I’m not saying I’m a good hitter, but if I see a cookie at the middle of the plate and I swing at it, I will swing as hard as I can. … It was nice to contribute to my team in both ways.”
SEEN AND HEARD AT SHEA STADIUM
NEW YORK — The fact they even played baseball last night was remarkable.
Just like in the District, it poured all morning and into the early afternoon yesterday in New York, leading locals to wonder whether the Nationals-Mets opener would be a washout. Somehow, the skies cleared around dinnertime, giving the grounds crew enough time to prepare the field to start at 7:10 p.m. as scheduled.
Conditions were far from ideal, though. Temperatures dropped into the high 40s during the game, and a strong, 20-mph wind was blowing in from right field throughout. As one Nationals player questioned while bundling up in four different layers of clothing: “Is it ever going to stay warm?”
— Mark Zuckerman
BY THE NUMBERS
13 consecutive bases stolen by Nationals opponents until Jesus Flores threw out Jose Reyes last night.
TONIGHT’S GAME
Nationals LHP John Lannan record, ERA: 3-3, 3.40
Mets RHP John Maine Record, ERA: 4-2, 3.00
Time: 7:10 p.m. TV: MASN2 HD
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