PHOENIX — The Washington Nationals rallied within the ninth inning to take the lead for the second straight recreation.

This one led to elation as a substitute of heartbreak.

Joey Meneses hit a three-run homer within the ninth inning off Miguel Castro and had 4 RBIs, lifting the Washington Nationals to a 9-8 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday.

“These guys got a bunch of heart and they’re playing together and they feel like they never out of it,” Nationals supervisor Dave Martinez stated. “Today is another good example that. They fought back and put up some big numbers again today.”

The Nationals rallied from a four-run deficit to take the lead within the ninth inning Saturday evening, solely to lose 8-7 when the Diamondbacks rallied within the backside half.

Arizona took an 8-6 lead into the ninth inning on Sunday behind Lourdes Gurriel Jr.’s two homers and 4 RBIs.

Luis Garcia opened the ninth inning with a double off Castro (1-1) and Keibert Ruiz adopted with a single. Meneses turned shortly on a pitch by Castro and despatched it into the seats in left to place the Nationals forward.

Erasmo Ramírez (2-1) didn’t enable a baserunner in 1 1/3 innings and Hunter Harvey labored round a stroll in ninth for his first save since 2019 at Double-A Bowie to forestall Arizona’s first sweep of the Nationals since 2009.

“These kinds of victories help us, give us confidence in a team to keep battling, keep struggling and have great at-bats until the end,” Meneses stated by means of a translator. “There’s an opportunity yesterday we were able to do that and unfortunately, we didn’t come out with the victory. But I think that everyone board has a team and it just shows us that we just keep battling the whole game.”

The Diamondbacks gave the impression to be in management after one other massive recreation from Gurriel. He had 4 hits, together with the tying homer within the ninth inning Saturday evening and picked up the place he left off, hitting a solo shot off Trevor Williams in second inning.

Gurriel adopted with a three-run shot off Andres Machado within the fifth and Christian Walker additionally homered for Arizona.

The Diamondbacks simply couldn’t maintain it.

Washington trailed by 4 runs after six innings, chopping the result in 7-5 towards Kevin Ginkel on Ruiz’s fielder’s alternative and Meneses’ run-scoring single. Another Washington run got here in when Ildemaro Vargas hit right into a double play within the eighth.

Needing three outs, the Diamondbacks gave up three runs and went down quietly within the ninth to see victory snatched from them after doing it to the Nationals the evening earlier than.

HARVEY’S TIME

Harvey was a first-round draft choose by Baltimore in 2013, however had his profession derailed by a string of accidents.

Picked up by the Nationals on a waiver declare, the right-hander lastly appears to be wholesome and is exhibiting off his potential. By choosing up his first massive league save towards Arizona, he and his father Bryan turn into the ninth father-son duo in main league historical past to document saves.

“I’m proud of him,” Martinez stated. “He went through a lot of ordeal just getting healthy and we’re going try to keep hit healthy. When he’s healthy, you see what he can do.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Nationals: CF Victor Robles was out of the lineup after injuring his again on a slide within the fourth inning Saturday evening. Martinez stated after the sport he might be positioned on the injured listing so he has time to get better. … 3B Jeimer Candelario was out of the lineup for the second straight recreation after being hospitalized briefly for dehydration following Friday’s recreation. He’s anticipated to begin Monday. … The Nationals reinstated INF Carter Kieboom from the 10-day injured listing and optioned him to Triple-A Rochester.

UP NEXT

Nationals: RHP Jake Irvin (0-0, 2.08 ERA) makes his second massive league begin Monday to kick off a three-game sequence at San Francisco.

Diamondbacks: RHP Zac Gallen (4-1, 2.53) is 2-0 with a 1.53 ERA in two profession begins towards Miami heading into the opener of a three-game sequence towards the Marlins on Monday.

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