There may be no accurate way to explain what was happening on South Capitol Street this evening during the Nationals’ 8-4 victory over the Mets.
Behind a power barrage that included two more Schwarbombs and five more scoreless innings from Espino, the secret weapon of the pitching staff, the Nationals disposed of the Mets in this make-up of one of the season-opening games postponed due to a COVID-19 outbreak.
“This team is phenomenal,” Schwarber said in his latest postgame Zoom session with reporters following another home run barrage.
Schwarber, who grounded out in his second at-bat, stepped to the plate again in the fifth.
And that’s 11 homers in nine games for Schwarber, a feat previously achieved by only one other man: Frank Howard, who did the same in 1968.
Davey Martinez’s favorite Swiss army Knife, capable of starting, mopping up or even closing, got the ball to start tonight for the third time this season.
With a fastball that barely topped 90 mph, a curveball he threw for a strike 15 of 18 times, and the occasional changeup and slider just for show, Espino carved up the Mets.
And I threw a changeup that he fouled off, then back-to-back curveballs and they were both perfect.
But this one didn’t come as easily as Espino thought it might when he departed.
Justin Miller really made a mess of things serving up back-to-back homers to Pete Alonso and Billy McKinney to bring the lead down to a scant one run and force Martinez to summon Hand for a five-out save.