Davey Martinez’s club went 1 for 12 with runners in scoring position and 10 left on base in the series opener with the Pittsburgh Pirates in Nationals Park on Monday night, but then Maikel Franco hit a two-run shot in the eighth to turn a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 advantage for Washington, and the home team held on for the win.
“The at-bats definitely got to get better with runners on base,” Martinez said after earning the curly-W.
Nelson Cruz, who’d put together a solid 5 for 18 (.278/.350/.556) road trip to Baltimore and Texas, which left him 24 for 85 in 23 games in June (.