Neto's Error in the 10th Hands Washington a Wild 6-5 Win

Andrew Alvarez threw seven innings of one-hit, zero-run ball and Washington still needed extra innings to survive. A fielding error by shortstop Neto on a Ford grounder in the 10th scored Abrams with the winning run, giving the Nationals a 6-5 decision over the Angels on September 12.

Alvarez was the story through seven frames — 1 hit, 0 earned runs, 4 walks, 8 strikeouts — a performance that should have been a comfortable win. Washington backed him up early: Abrams doubled to center in the first to score Ortiz, then the second inning turned into a four-run blitz. A Young single scored Ruiz after a successful Washington challenge overturned the original call, and then Ortiz singled to right to score both Young and Wood. Just like that it was 4-0, and with Alvarez dealing, that felt like a lot.

It wasn't. Walbert Urena gave up 9 hits and 4 earned runs over 6 innings for the Angels, but Los Angeles refused to fold. In the eighth, Meckler doubled to right to score Trout, and then Vaughn Grissom crushed a 360-foot homer to left — a two-run shot that made it 3-4. The Angels weren't done. In the ninth, Guzman doubled to left to score Peraza, tying it at four, and that's when the win probability cratered for Washington: the home win percentage swung from 74% to 38% on that single swing. Ballesteros then hit a sacrifice fly to score Guzman, and suddenly the Angels led 5-4 heading into the bottom of the ninth. Washington's bullpen looked cooked.

Except the Nationals answered immediately. Chaparro singled to center to score Tena and knot it at five, forcing extras. Blake Weiman had thrown 2 scoreless innings for the Angels, but in the 10th, Ford's grounder to shortstop turned into the game-winner when Neto's fielding error allowed Abrams to score. The final: WSH 6, LAA 5. The story of the night, honestly, appears to be a game that Alvarez's brilliance should have made simple but instead became a nine-inning gut-punch followed by an error-gifted walkoff. Keibert Ruiz went 3-for-4 for Washington, and Abimelec Ortiz was 2-for-2 with 2 RBI — quiet contributors in a game that looked like it belonged to the Angels for a good stretch of the ninth. Los Angeles got a monster effort from Grissom (1 HR, 2 RBI) and a clean 2-inning outing from Weiman, but none of it was enough once Neto's glove let them down.