Effective Aníbal regains form, sets tone in W

WASHINGTON -- One way to help guarantee a teammate’s first win of the season is by piling on run support. The Nationals did that for Aníbal Sánchez, as the right-hander bested his former club, the Marlins, in a 9-3 victory on Sunday at Nationals Park.

Sánchez found his rhythm with seven innings of one-run ball, fanning five and allowing five hits. After struggling with location in his first four starts of the season, he threw 62 of his efficient 92 pitches for strikes.

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“I think when I’m able to locate my fastball for strikes, it’s something that I can trust every time,” Sánchez said. “When that happens, I feel really good. I can use my secondary pitch. It’s effective when I’ve got my fastball down on both sides of the plate.”

Location had been a point of emphasis after each of Sánchez’s starts this season. Manager Dave Martinez stressed the importance of getting the ball down in the strike zone. After Sunday’s win, catcher Kurt Suzuki told Martinez that was the best he had seen Sánchez pitch all year.

“He was good. He was really good,” Martinez said. “That’s the Aníbal I’ve known for a very long time. When he can split the plate like he did and work both sides and keep the ball down, he’s going to be very effective.”

Sánchez surrendered his only run of the afternoon, a Corey Dickerson homer to left field, in the second inning.

From there, the Nationals’ bats went to work. They pulled the game wide open when all nine batters came to the plate in a five-run fifth. Trea Turner led the offense with three RBIs on the afternoon, including a two-run triple in the inning, and extended his hitting streak to nine games.

“It was very nice that our bats did have some life today in order to give him the confidence to go out there and challenge some guys and put some guys away,” said Adam Eaton, who hit a two-run double. “I’m thrilled for him. He had a solid outing. ... Hopefully he can build upon that.”

Sánchez’s 15th Major League season got off on a bumpy note. He allowed four home runs in his first appearance, and he had not gotten beyond 5 1/3 frames in an outing. But he was cruising on Sunday to the point the Nationals did not begin warming up Ryne Harper, who pitched the final two frames, in the bullpen until the bottom of the seventh inning.

“My mechanics are there,” Sánchez said. “It’s something I’ve been working for the whole season, and finally I had it with me and I got really good results.”

A lengthy start from Sánchez was timely. Every outing by Nats pitchers is magnified following season-ending right hand injury to No. 2 starter Stephen Strasburg. Because Sánchez was able to go seven innings, all arms are available for Monday’s series finale against the Marlins, Martinez said, as the team continues on its stretch of 21 games in 19 days.

“I’m so glad to give some of these guys a day off today, really,” Martinez said. “We’ve got a lot of games coming up in a row. Aníbal set the tone. It was huge for him to go seven.”