Washington Nationals: Three Takeaways From Game 4 Against Toronto

Washington’s offense finally showed up as the Nats split with Toronto. What stood out the most?

Washington’s offense was able to bail out starter Erick Fedde, thanks in part to Starlin Castro, Carter Kieboom, and Victor Robles. The team went on to win 6-4. Here are three takeaways from tonight’s win.

Carter Kieboom Had A Career Night

Carter Kieboom got the start at third and had the best game of his young career. While he is still adapting to learning a new position, Kieboom showed that he’s already adapted to hitting at the professional level. The 22-year-old went two for two, with two walks, and a run scored. Each of his walks were huge at-bats, with Kieboom laying off of some nasty breaking balls. He worked an eight-pitch walk in the second and a  seven-pitch walk in the fifth. In three of his four at-bats, Kieboom was down to his last strike before getting on base. Talk about plate discipline.

In the field, Kieboom teamed up with Kurt Suzuki to tag out Teoscar Hernandez. Hernandez had a great jump and had looked to have swiped the bag when Kieboom was able to make an amazing tag, just barely touching the runner before he slid into the bag.

And The Offense Finally Heated Up

The Nats offense only scored a run each in the first two games of the series and It took until the tenth inning last night for the offense to score some runs. Today, the offense scored early and often, putting up six runs, five of them off of Hyun-Jin Ryu. Coming into tonight’s game, Ryu had owned the Nats, owning a sub 2.00 ERA against them. Tonight the Nats bats came alive, combining for nine hits including a homer against the veteran. In total, the team combined for 13 hits.

The star of the night was Starlin Castro who went 4-5, with two runs scored. He still has 0 RBI’s on the year, but it is great to see his bat is coming alive. Victor Robles and Kiebom both added two hits apiece.

Dave Martinez’s Bullpen Decision Making Has Been Interesting

While the Nationals held on to win, Dave Martinez did his bullpen no favors. For starters, in the eighth inning, the skipper decided to hand the ball to Tanner Rainey for a third straight night. The 27-year old recorded two quick outs before allowing a solo shot to Hernadez, his first earned run of the year. Rainey rebounded by getting the final out of the inning. Martinez is quickly losing faith in some of his veterans and decided to ride the arm of Rainey. Thankfully, the Nats have the weened off, so the young hurler can recover.

Another thing to note, Martinez has been quick to use guys such as Ryne Harper, Javy Guerra, and Sam Freeman, instead of Will Harris and Sean Doolittle.