Nationals survive late Angels surge, win 6-5 in 10 innings on Zach Neto’s error

A four-run cushion, built the hard way

Washington did not bludgeon the Angels early so much as keep adding stress until the scoreboard bent. CJ Abrams opened the scoring with a first-inning double to center that brought home Abimelec Ortiz, and the second inning widened the gap in two separate bites. Jacob Young singled to left to score Keibert Ruiz on a play that survived a Washington challenge, then Ortiz singled to right to drive in both Young and James Wood for a 4-0 lead.

Those early innings belonged to the Nationals lineup’s constant traffic. Ruiz finished 3-for-4, Abrams added two hits and an RBI, Ortiz went 2-for-2 with two RBIs and a walk, and Young contributed both a run and an RBI. It was not a home-run barrage; Washington did not hit one all day. But with 11 hits, four walks and five stolen bases, the Nationals kept presenting problems even when the finishing touch was imperfect.

That cushion also gave Andrew Alvarez room to work, and he used it well. His line was the shape of a game Washington should usually close without fuss: 7.0 innings, one hit, no runs, four walks and eight strikeouts on 97 pitches. Across the diamond, Walbert Urena did enough to stop the afternoon from becoming a blowout, striking out seven over six innings, but the nine hits and four runs he allowed meant the Angels were playing catch-up from the start.

Four hits, five runs, and a game turned inside out

The startling part of the Angels’ rally was how little margin it seemed to require. Through seven innings, Alvarez and Washington had held Los Angeles to one hit and no runs. Then the eighth inning flipped everything. Mike Trout came around on Wade Meckler’s double to right, and Vaughn Grissom followed by homering to left to score Meckler and suddenly cut the deficit to 4-3. One quiet game had become a one-run game in the space of two swings.

The ninth was even sharper. Denzer Guzman doubled to left to score Oswald Peraza and tie it, and Moises Ballesteros followed with a sacrifice fly to left that brought Guzman home for a 5-4 Angels lead. Considering Los Angeles finished with only four hits, the comeback was remarkably concentrated: Meckler’s double, Grissom’s homer, Guzman’s double and just enough patience around them to cash in the extra baserunners created by seven walks.

Washington, to its credit, did not let the late collapse become the whole story. In the bottom of the ninth, Andres Chaparro singled to center to score Jose Tena and force extras at 5-5. Jack Sinclair then supplied the calm Washington had lost, finishing 1 1/3 scoreless innings. In the 10th, the game ended on a play that fit the afternoon’s untidy finish: Harry Ford grounded into a fielder’s choice to short, Abrams came home, and the winning run scored on a fielding error by Angels shortstop Zach Neto.

Our take: pressure won out, but polish did not

Our take: Washington earned this result over the long stretch of the game, but not in the clean, authoritative way a 4-0 start and Alvarez’s seven scoreless innings should have produced. The Nationals created more offense than the Angels almost any way you measure it — 11 hits to four, plus five stolen bases — and still left 17 runners on base. That is the number that kept the door open. A lineup that gets that much traffic should reasonably expect to finish earlier than the 10th inning.

Our take: the Angels deserve credit for making a real game out of almost nothing, yet they also exposed the limit of that formula. Seven walks and four extra-base hits were enough to manufacture five runs, but the broader line still reads as a warning sign: a .121 team average for the day, 10 strikeouts and 14 runners left on base. A sensible next step for Los Angeles might be finding a little more contact in the middle of those patient at-bats, because Washington pitchers gave away seven walks and still rarely paid for it over the first seven innings.

Our take: both clubs leave with a clear area to tighten, and both are visible right in the box. For Washington, the bullpen bridge after Alvarez was the soft spot; Brad Lord and Will Dion combined to allow five runs in 1 2/3 innings before Sinclair restored order. For Los Angeles, the game’s last image is the fairest summary. The Angels were charged with two errors, and the final one decided everything. In a 10-inning game that swung wildly late, Washington’s edge came less from one thunderous moment than from sustained pressure — extra hits, extra steals, extra chances, and finally the extra mistake.

Scoring moments

1. 1st Inning

   Abrams doubled to center, Ortiz scored.

2. 2nd Inning

   Young singled to left, Ruiz scored, Young to second. Washington Nationals challenged: call on the field was upheld.

3. 2nd Inning

   Ortiz singled to right, Young scored and Wood scored.

4. 8th Inning

   Meckler doubled to right, Trout scored.

5. 8th Inning

   Grissom homered to left (360 feet), Meckler scored.

6. 9th Inning

   Guzman doubled to left, Peraza scored.

7. 9th Inning

   Ballesteros hit sacrifice fly to left, Guzman scored.

8. 9th Inning

   Chaparro singled to center, Tena scored.

9. 10th Inning

   Ford grounded into fielder's choice to shortstop, Abrams scored on fielding error by shortstop Neto.