But his team had the right formula the great Juan Soto, who hit the game-winning single in the bottom of the ninth inning to score Victor Robles for a 6-5 opening day Nationals win before a pandemic-restricted crowd of about 4,800 at Nationals Park.
That select group of fans got to watch the team raise its 2019 World Series championship banner.
Winning, even during that title year, never seems to come easily or simply for Martinez and his Nats. Remember, they started off 19-31 before coming back to win it all in 2019.
And on Tuesday, nearly one-fourth of the Nationals roster was sidelined with COVID-19 and protocol issues when the team finally took the field against the defending National League East champion Atlanta Braves six days after the originally scheduled opener.
Stephen Strasburg highlights Nationals-Braves doubleheader
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The Dodgers will be without Cody Bellinger for at least one more game and possibly longer, though that might not be known for a few days.
Bellinger was spiked in the left calf by A’s pitcher Reymin Guduan in a play at first base in the ninth inning of Monday’s game. Bellinger was unavailable in Tuesday’s game as the Dodgers awaited test results, which showed no stress fracture and no structural damage in Bellinger’s leg.
“There’s residual soreness,” manager Dave Roberts said after Tuesday’s game. “I don’t know what we’re going to do, as far as IL, or no IL. I think right now we’re in a decent spot, but even with that I just don’t know when the return will be.”
April 7, 2021
If you had Jonathan Lucroy driving in the first runs of the Nationals’ 2021 season, take your ticket to the window and claim your winnings. Due to a COVID-19 outbreak that forced the team to sideline nine players, the 34-year-old backstop, who was unemployed as of last week, suddenly became Max Scherzer’s batterymate for the Nationals’ season opener against the Braves. Things didn’t go well at the outset, but in his first major league plate appearance in about a year and a half, Lucroy helped the Nationals’ ace dig out of an early 3-0 hole with a two-run double.
COVID Issues
As expected, the Nationals placed a ton of players on the IL with undisclosed illnesses. Josh Bell, Kyle Schwaber, Patrick Corbin, Brad Hand, Jordy Mercer, Yan Gomes, Alex Avila, Jon Lester, and Josh Harrison were all placed on the IL and will miss an unknown amount of time.
Trades!
Orlando Arcia was traded to the Braves for Chad Sobotka and Patrick Weigel. Apparently the Brewers wanted to bolster their bullpen and Arcia added depth to the Braves bench. Arcia was sent to the alternate site, but that may be a matter of needing him to clear COVID protocols before he joins the teams.
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