With the score tied at 1-1 after seven innings this afternoon, Washington Nationals' bench bat Scott Hairston came on for a pinch hit appearance in the eighth and drove a double to left off Miami Marlins' left-hander Brad Hand, putting the tie-breaking run on second base.
Denard Span bunted Hairston over to third and reached base himself and Nats' skipper Matt Williams went to pinch runner Nate McLouth at third in case they needed his speed.
"Once we got him to third base," Williams explained, "then we decided to put Nate in there because he's got a little more speed in case -- we had it -- that short fly ball with good arms in the outfield we want to have some more speed, but nice job of hitting by [Hairston] and recognizing where the ball is in the outfield and taking the extra base."
Anthony Rendon lined out to center in the next at bat after Span's bunt single, but not deep enough for McLouth to score. Jayson Werth came through, however, with a broken-bat sac fly to left that got the job done.
The double by Hairston that started it all was his first extra base hit since May 31st, and just his second hit in his last 30 plate appearances, but it resulted in the go-ahead run in what ended up a three-run inning in a 4-3 win.
Asked about the difficulty of producing in such limited opportunities, Williams told reporters that it is, obviously, a very difficult job.
"He's got to take his pregame work seriously," Williams said, "because you never know when the opportunity may arise. That's a perfect situation for him."
Hairston improved to 10 for 36 (.278 AVG) with three doubles against left-handed pitchers this season and 272 for 1,012 (.269 AVG) in his career vs LHPs.
"It's not easy," Williams reiterated of the role Hairston was acquired to fill on the Nats' roster.
"It's not easy for anybody. But he's made a real habit of coming through in that situation, especially against left-handed pitching. So, we're in a one-run game there and he can drive a ball out of the ballpark. So we want him up in that situation with the ability to drive one to his pull side or get an extra base hit like he did and put us in business."
The bunt by Denard Span?
"That one came from the bench," Williams said.
"We wanted to move the runner to third base and get one at least, but he laid down a perfect one. And his speed allows him to not have to be perfect in that situation. A lot of times he does it on his own, but that one happened to come from the bench."
After the Nationals took the lead, they added some insurance runs that ended up being important when the Marlins rallied in the ninth.
Span stole second with Rendon up and moved to third on a wild pitch with Adam LaRoche at the plate. LaRoche walked after Werth's sac fly, stole second base and then scored when Ian Desmond lined a double to left to drive LaRoche and Span in and make it 4-1. It was LaRoche's first stolen base of the year and the 11th stolen base of his 11-year career.
"We have a good feeling they're not going to throw through there," Williams said when asked about sending LaRoche. "So especially two strikes, he timed the pitcher and went to second and of course it turned out to be the difference run for us. But we want to take advantage of that. Span getting to second base too. They're playing the infield in, it's very difficult for the middle infielders to get to second base, so we go ahead and steal it there."
The Marlins scored two runs in the ninth, so LaRoche's first stolen base of the year and the run he scored ended up being big.
• We talked about Hairston's doubled, LaRoche's stolen base, Tanner Roark's effort and more on the latest edition of Nats Nightly after today's game...