Flores gives Washington win with 9th-inning single

By Brian Hunsicker

Published: June 25, 2008

WASHINGTON – The Washington Nationals won the last of a three-game series against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, the last-place team in the National League East taking down the top team in the American League West.
Wily Mo Pena and Ronnie Belliard, both with averages under .220, came through with the winning runs; starting pitcher Tim Redding – without a decision in more than a month, let alone a win – kept one of baseball’s top offenses in check. But the biggest surprise came from Jesus Flores with the game on the line.
Flores’ single in the bottom of the ninth brought home Elijah Dukes to give the Nationals a 5-4 win, breaking their four-game winless streak.
Given the teams’ recent performances, it wasn’t an outcome one would have expected.
Flores has put up solid numbers, but Wednesday was a challenge. Prior to the ninth inning, he put the ball in play just once – a groundout to shortstop – and struck out three times. But with a man on in the Nationals’ final at-bats, he delivered.
“He doesn’t get rattled. He doesn’t care about his age or who he’s facing or the situation,” manager Manny Acta said. “He’s got a tremendous knowledge of the strike zone for a kid ... we got out of A-ball. So that gives him a chance.”
“In that situation, I was preparing myself to look for that pitch,” Flores said of Scot Shields’ curveball. “He just [left] it there.”
Belliard, with a .218 average and one hit in his last four games entering Wednesday, came through with a bases-loaded walk against Angels starter Erwin Santana. The walk brought home Dukes in the sixth inning, breaking a 2-2 tie.
Pena, with eight hits in his last 10 games and a .211 average, followed Belliard with a single that scored Lastings Milledge and added an insurance run.
Redding held the Angels in check for his six innings. Though he allowed seven hits, the Angels were able to push across just two runs. He got help from his defense – that of the four-error game a night prior – when Dukes threw out Garret Anderson trying to score on a fly ball to right field.
“Huge,” Acta said. “A lot of people just look at the ninth inning and see how we won. But that was tremendous, because it stopped a huge inning for them. That could have been a disaster for us.”
But for all the unexpected things that went right, one maligned area nearly lived up to its reputation. Luis Ayala, the Nationals’ third pitcher, allowed the first two batters to reach – though the second was safe on a Pete Orr fielding error. Both eventually came around to score on a double by Casey Kotchman and a sacrifice fly by Howie Kendrick.
Despite an afternoon meeting called by Acta to focus on defense and the intricacies of the game, he said he wasn’t disappointed in the error by Orr. The hot off the bat of Garret Anderson, Acta said, was a rocket.
The Nationals also announced that starting pitcher Shawn Hill had a bone scan and an MRI performed on Wednesday at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. The tests showed no structural damage to Hill’s forearm; instead, doctors believed that the pain resulted from muscle irritation. Hill will rest and rehab the arm before going into a throwing program. Acta said that a trip to the DL is a certainty for Hill.