Better Call Alex: Leadoff HR sparks Nats' bats

DENVER -- The Nationals’ lineup finally answered the call. And it all began with a Call.

When Alex Call was moved into the leadoff spot by manager Dave Martinez for Friday night’s game against the Rockies at Coors Field, Martinez was hoping for a first-inning spark to open the contest for an offense that had been averaging 2.4 runs per game on the young season.

Ask -- or call -- and ye shall receive.

Call belted the fourth pitch he saw from Colorado right-hander José Ureña over the left-field wall to set the tone for an offensive awakening that led to a 10-5 victory, the second win in Washington’s first eight games of 2023.

“This game’s so crazy, as we all know,” Martinez said. “Yesterday, we lose, 1-0. Then we come out and put 19 hits on the scoreboard tonight, and 10 runs. We’ve just got to keep going. We can’t look back.”

The Nationals hope that in the near future, it will be said that after their 10-run outburst at Coors Field in early April, they never looked back. With Call’s leadoff homer, Washington was off and running, getting another home run immediately thereafter from Jeimer Candelario, marking just the second time in Nationals history (since 2005) that the club opened a road game with back-to-back homers. The other time they did it was on Sept. 9, 2013, against the Mets at Citi Field, with Denard Span and Ryan Zimmerman hitting the homers.

When it was all said and done, all nine batters in the Nats’ starting lineup had recorded at least one hit, with CJ Abrams delivering the biggest performance. The 22-year-old shortstop tripled twice -- doubling the number of triples he had thus far in his young career -- and drove in three.

Meanwhile, starter MacKenzie Gore turned in another strong performance in his second start of the season, giving up two runs on five hits while walking two and striking out six over six innings. He owns a 2.38 ERA over his first two outings, and his latest performance came on the heels of six sterling innings from Josiah Gray the day before.

Getting your starter an early lead is important, but for the Nats, putting a crooked number on the board was a huge relief, enabling them to exhale after being shut out at the hitters’ haven of Coors Field on Thursday.

“It’s great to get things started, set the tone early,” Call said. “But then to have Candy follow me with another home run … you just want things to keep rolling. Hopefully, we can get some really positive momentum from this.”

Call’s homer was a call to arms -- or bats -- and Candelario said afterwards that it motivated him and the rest of the lineup to follow suit. After missing a homer by inches the day before, Candelario made sure he got all of it this time.

“Yesterday, I hit the ball a little on the end of the bat,” he said. “But today, I got it on the barrel, and when I got it on the barrel, I knew it was going to go.”

If Thursday’s shutout loss was the equivalent of hitting the ball off the end of the bat, Friday’s win was definitely barreled up. For a team that entered the game third in the National League in singles (41) and last in extra-base hits (10), adding five extra-base hits -- the two homers to open the game, Abrams’ two triples and an eighth-inning double by Joey Meneses -- was a more than welcome development.

Now the question is: Will the Nats’ bats stay hot, or was this a flash in the pan?

“It means a lot for the young guys,” said the 29-year-old Candelario. “They want to feel that confidence. We want to win, to have good vibes. … Just quality at-bat after quality at-bat, that’s what we want to carry into tomorrow.”

Tomorrow is what Martinez was focused on in the wake of Friday’s win. While he was answering questions from reporters after the game, he was already making the transition to Saturday. The first order of business following a 10-run, 19-hit night at the plate? The lineup.

“We’ll see. For me, I’m very reluctant to change the lineup tomorrow after we scored so many runs,” Martinez said. “I’m gonna sit here now after you guys leave and go over all that stuff.”

For his part, Call is ready if he gets the call to lead off again. Just don’t expect him to hit a leadoff homer every day.

“I wish I could promise that every game,” he said. “But I can only control what I do.”

What he did Friday was give the Nats the spark they so badly needed.