Don’t look now but the Washington Nationals have become one of MLB’s hottest teams. On Thursday, the Nationals walked off the Chicago Cubs for a 4-3 win, as Nats outfield Alex Call, called game.
Alex Call led off the bottom of the ninth with the game tied at 3-3. Call connected with the first pitch he saw — a 90-miles-per-hour fastball from Cubs reliever Brad Boxberger. The rest is now history, a lead-off home run for a walk-off win.
The Nationals started the season 5-13 but have since gone 8-5. Washington took three of four from the Cubs. The Nats have won three of their last four series.
The home run was Call’s only hit in the game. In fact, it was the Nats only hit at the top of their order. Call, Luis Garica, and Jeimer Candelario went a combined 1-for-10.
The middle of the order produced in their absence. Joey Meneses, Dominic Smith, and Lane Thomas combined to go 4-for-12. Thomas crushed a three-run home run, scoring Meneses and Smith in the second inning that gave Washington an early 3-0 lead.
Patrick Corbin pitched another gem, going seven innings and allowing two inherited runs. Both Nats’ relievers Hunter Harvey and Kyle Finnegan took the mound for a third straight day. Despite blowing the lead, with a three-run eighth inning, their effort was commended out of the bullpen.
But Call made the call to erase the dreadful eighth. The game-wining blast is Call’s third homer of the season.
“Probably the best feeling on the field that I’ve ever had,” Call said, per Talk Nats. “Like I said I’ve dreamed about that so many times. That’s my first walk-off HR at any level.”
Next up for the Nationals is a six-game west coast trip, starting with three at Arizona.
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