With an offense performing as poorly as it has, you’d think that the Nats hadn’t scored that many runs in a while. But they actually had a few games recently that compare in terms of scoring.
The last time they scored 6 runs in the 7th inning or later was June 5th against the Diamondbacks, when they scored 3 in the 8th, to go up 4-1. The Diamondbacks tied it up in the 9th, but the Nats scored 5 more in the 11th, thanks to a Mike Morse grand slam. The last time they scored 6 or more runs in a single inning was May 20th, against Baltimore. They won that game 17-5.
The comeback, on the other hand, was something for the ages. They were down by 5 runs in the 6th inning, but managed to squeak out a run in the bottom of the 6th. Then, in the 7th, the broke open for 6 runs with the help of 5 hits, 3 walks, a HBP and a wild pitch. They hadn’t had a comeback of that magnitude in almost two years.
The last time they came back to win after being down by 5 or more was way back on August 7, 2009. Collin Balester started, and they went down 5-0 to Arizona in the 2nd inning, scored a run in the bottom of the 2nd, and ended up winning the game 7-6. Even though that was almost 2 years ago, the day before, on Au
gust 6, 2009, they also came back and won after being down by 5 or more. That day they were playing the Marlins, who went up 6-0 off start Craig Stammen by the end of the 2nd inning. The Nats waited until the 4th to score, but ended up winning 12-8.
Neither of those comebacks, though, involved the team being down by 5 or more runs in the 6th or later. To find that, I had to go back to May 7th, 2009. They were playing the Dodgers, who scored 6 runs, all earned, off of Jordan Zimmermann in the first inning. But in his 4th career start, JZimm managed to go 5 more innings after that without giving up a run. They entered the 7th down 6-1, and scored 3 runs off among other things, a Nick Johnson and Ryan Zimmerman singles followed by an Adam Dunn double. They really opened it up in the 8th though, and scored 6 runs in an inning that included doubles by Willingham, Kearns, and Johnson, singles by Dunn and Dukes, and walks by Zim and Flores. Despite getting 6 innings from their starter, the Dodgers went through 6 relievers, 2 of them didn’t record an out, and only 1 lasted a full inning. The Nats won 11-9, but never lost the lead after coming back from being down 6-1 going in to the 7th. At that, folks, is the last comeback as big and as late as last night’s game.