Victor Robles Powers The Washington Nationals To A Much Needed Series Win

7-16. 7 RBIs. 4 stolen bases. Victor Robles was all over the stat sheets as he helped the Nats win their first series since the end of April.

Since winning the World Series with Washington in 2019, Victor Robles has been unable to replicate his rookie success. He’s become an offensive liability and has taken a massive step back defensively. His start to this season has been no different — entering the weekend series against the Rockies slashing a measly .227/.296/.289, with an OPS of .585.

But after two months of floundering at the plate, Robles was crucial in the Nationals winning their first series in over a month. In Thursday’s opener, he went 1-4, with an RBI bunt single, while also scoring a run in the Nats 7-3 win.

He followed this up with one of the best games of his career in game one of their Saturday doubleheader. In a 13-7 shootout win over the Colorado Rockies, Robles was the surprising driving force behind the Nats win — going 3-4, with a career-high six RBIs, while also stealing a base.

Robles started his day off in the bottom of the first inning with a two-run RBI single to put the Nats up 4-3. He worked a full count that included multiple impressive takes on borderline pitches before crushing the sixth pitch to left.

An inning later, Robles came up with two on and two out, working another full count before driving the fifth pitch of the at-bat into left for his third RBI of the game — putting the Nats up 8-4.

The top of the fourth saw the Rockies score three to cut the Nats lead to one. Not deterred, Josh Bell and Riley Adams both drew walks, and with one out, Robles launched his first homer of the season (and first homer since August 4) to put the Nats up 11-7. As he had been doing all day, Robles drove the fourth pitch to leftfield. He slowly backed up down the baseline, admiring his blast before releasing a bat flip and starting his jog around the diamond.

In typical Robles fashion, his next at-bat ended with him being hit by a pitch on his hand. It wasn’t till the ninth inning that Colorado was finally able to retire the speedster, getting him to pop out to first.

Part of his success stemmed from his increased plate discipline — laying off of pitches he would usually chase and seeing 26 pitches across his five plate appearances.

During game two of the doubleheader, Robles committed an error on a throw to the plate that led to the Rockies taking the lead and eventually the game. He finished 1-4, with a stolen base. Yet, with a chance to clinch the series on Sunday, he was able to bounce back, finishing 2-4, with two stolen bases.

Robles finished the weekend raising his OPS by 71 points and almost doubling his RBI total. With headed to New York to face the Mets in a three-game series, he will have the perfect opportunity to continue his hot streak and finally turn his career around.