WASHINGTON — The outcome was shocking, but Seattle manager Eric Wedge took a somewhat philosophical view after his Mariners blew a 5-1 lead with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning and fell 6-5 to Washington.
“Every once in a while, you’re going to get kicked in the teeth l
ike this,” Wedge said of the devastating loss in a game that had been fully controlled by Seattle until the end.
“When you do, you’ve got to pick yourself up, learn from it, shelve it and come back out with a fresh state of mind.”
Wilson Ramos capped the Nationals’ five-run ninth inning with a game-ending three-run homer, lifting them to a dramatic victory over Seattle, whose bullpen wasted a sharp outing from starter Doug Fister, who allowed one run and three hits in eight innings. The right-hander is 0-3 in four June starts despite a 3.60 ERA.
Fister cruised through much of the game, retiring 10 straight after Jayson Werth’s leadoff single in the first. An infield hit by Zimmerman ended the run, but Fister set down the next five batters before Washington got its first real offensive chance.
Fister hit Ian Desmond and walked Werth with one out in the sixth, and Bernadina singled in Desmond. Fister quickly ended the jam with a double-play ball from Zimmerman, and the Nationals did not have another baserunner until the ninth inning.
Brandon League replaced Fister for the ninth and Werth reached on a two-base error by first baseman Justin Smoak to begin the inning. Roger Bernadina walked before Ryan Zimmerman hit into a double play, leaving Werth on third.
Jerry Hairston followed with a run-scoring single and Michael Morse reached on a comebacker that hit League in the right leg. League took some practice pitches before he was replaced by David Pauley, who surrendered Danny Espinosa’s hit to set the stage for Ramos.
“I hit that ball pretty good,” said Ramos, who connected on a 1-1 pitch for his sixth homer. “After I hit the ball, I knew that ball was in the stands.”
Ramos threw his arms up almost immediately after the ball left his bat and Pauley (4-1) trudged off the mound.
“It went about 20 feet off his bat and I hopped over the fence. I knew right away,” Werth said. “I didn’t even look to see where it went.”
The rookie catcher’s shot finished the biggest ninth-inning comeback for the Nationals since the team moved to Washington from Montreal in 2005. It also tied the largest ninth-inning comeback in franchise history.
The Nationals ran out of the dugout and waited for Ramos to touch home plate before starting a mass celebration.
“I was pretty excited after I hit that homer,” Ramos said. “That was my first walk-off home run in my career. So when I saw my teammates waiting for me at home plate, I was very, very excited.”
Adam Kennedy had three hits and two RBI for Seattle, which finished with 13 hits. Prized prospect Dustin Ackley also drove in two runs.
Washington starter Livan Hernandez was chased in the fifth inning — his shortest outing of the season — and charged with five runs, four earned, and 10 hits.
Three relievers shut down the Mariners after Hernandez left. Ryan Mattheus and Collin Balester each pitched two innings, and Todd Coffey (3-0) worked the ninth for Washington, which has won nine of 10.
The pitchers who had left the game watched from the clubhouse, where they heard the roar of the crowd before seeing the home run on the televised feed.
“We’re jumping up like we’re 5 years old and won a tee-ball game and we’re getting a sno-cone after,” Balester said. “It’s fun. It shows you what this game is about.”
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