Santander, O's rough up Nats relievers, rally for 5-3 win

WASHINGTON (AP) — Pat Valaika, Pedro Severino and Anthony Santander homered during a five-run rally in the eighth inning as the Baltimore Orioles roughed up Washington’s relievers and beat the Nationals 5-3 Saturday night.

Nationals starter Austin Voth pitched five sharp innings, and the Orioles went into eighth with just two hits and trailing 3-0.

Sean Doolittle relieved and Baltimore, which routed the World Series champions 11-0 on Friday night, began the eighth with back-to-back, pinch-hit homers by Valaika and Severino.

Daniel Hudson (1-1) took over with one out and after a walk and single, Santander hit his third homer of the season into the left-field bleachers.

“That was a good start to the eighth inning, back-to-back homers,” Santander said.

Doolittle, who led Washington with 29 saves last season, has a 18.00 ERA this season in four appearances out of the Nationals bullpen.

“I don’t have a ton of answers myself right now, so I’ll do my best with questions,” Doolitte said before talking to the media.

“I should be able to get through an inning and it just hasn’t come together. I feel terrible. I’m letting the team down. I want to help. I want to be a part of that group," he said.

Manager Dave Martinez stuck behind Doolittle, telling reporters: “I’m not going to give up on him. We’ve got to figure this out.”

Juan Soto hit his first home run of the season in the second to give Washington a 1-0 lead. Eric Thames had an RBI double in the sixth as the Nationals went up 3-0.

Soto, who started the season on the COVID-19 injured list, also singled in the fourth inning for his second multihit effort in three games since returning to the lineup.

It was the 21-year old’s first homer since Game 6 of the 2019 World Series. Soto had five home...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/Santander-O-s-rough-up-Nats-relievers-rally-for-15469839.php