Anchored by a .207 average this season with runners in scoring position, DeJong drew a bases-loaded opportunity in the third inning against Washington, and sure enough lefty Patrick Corbin teased him with three pitches out of the zone. Ahead in the count 3-0, DeJong swung at the next pitch and grounded up the middle for an error that tied the game 1-1. It goes as an empty at-bat with no RBI. It wasn’t a walk. But it was a step.
“It’s more about my anxiety to get the job done as opposed to the actual pitch sequences,” DeJong said before Tuesday’s game.