For a brief moment in the second inning of Wednesday night’s game against the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Washington Nationals were heeding Manager Dave Martinez’s advice and poised to break the game wide open.
Before the game, Martinez had stood in the Nationals Park batting cages and told his hitters to simply relax at the plate — work the count, wait for your pitch. In the second inning, the approach was paying off with a two-out rally against Dodgers right-hander Landon Knack. Nick Senzel hit a solo home run to center field, and another run scored after Knack hit CJ Abrams with a pitch and walked three. They got Knack to 48 pitches. Then Luis García Jr. hit a hard first-pitch groundout to end the rally, leaving Washington down a run.
