Nats match franchise record in slugfest win vs. Angels

Brady House’s tiebreaking RBI double in the seventh inning helped lift the Washington Nationals to a 15-9 comeback victory Friday over the Los Angeles Angels in Anaheim, Calif.
Each Nationals batter had at least one hit and drove in at least a run, with eight of them scoring at least once. Friday marked just the second time in the franchise’s history where all nine batters had a run batted in. The other instance took place on June 2, 2017, against the Oakland Athletics.
CJ Abrams, Luis Garcia Jr. and Nathaniel Lowe all went 3-for-6, with Garcia and Lowe driving in two each. House finished 2-for-4. Josh Bell blasted his 11th home run of the season as he drove in three and scored three times, including on House’s two-bagger off Angels reliever Sam Bachman (1-1). Jacob Young, the nine-hole hitter, also drove in three and scored twice as part of a 2-for-5 night.
Jo Adell homered and scored twice as he went 2-for-4 to extend his hitting streak to nine games. Nolan Schanuel (2-for-4) and Taylor Ward each added a two-run homer. Luis Rengifo finished 2-for-4 with an RBI and two runs. However, all that was not enough as Washington rallied from deficits of 5-2, 7-5 and 9-8.
Friday’s slugfest was a back-and-forth affair for the first five innings. However, it was Washington’s bullpen, which entered Friday with the National League’s worst relief ERA at 5.84, that shut down the Angels and allowed for the comeback victory.
Four Nationals relievers pitched 4 2/3 shutout innings and allowed just two hits and two walks. Brad Lord (2-5) pitched 1 2/3 innings to get the win.
Zach Neto struck out in a pinch-hit appearance for Kevin Newman in the seventh for the Angels. It was the shortstop’s first appearance since Tuesday. He jammed his right shoulder while caught stealing in a 3-2 win over the Boston Red Sox. It was the same shoulder he had surgically repaired in the offseason, but an MRI showed no damage.
Neto, though, did not replace Newman in the field as Scott Kingery played shortstop the rest of the game.