Guzman powers Nats' win over Bucs
Shortstop drives in six runs; bullpen preserves late lead
WASHINGTON -- Shortstop Cristian Guzman had his best game as a member of the Nationals. He drove in a career-high six runs and finished a triple shy of the cycle as he helped the Nationals edge the Pirates, 9-8, at Nationals Park on Saturday afternoon.
The performance by Guzman is something that Washington envisioned after it signed him to a four-year, $16.8 million contract after the 2004 season. Unfortunately, it took Guzman a long time to reach the heights that he accomplished with the Twins.
In 2005, he played the entire season with a bad right shoulder and hit .219 in 142 games. He ended up having shoulder surgery and missed the entire 2006 season.
The next year, Guzman gave the Nationals a glimpse of what he was able to do in Minnesota, hitting .328, but he ended up missing a huge chunk of the season when he tore ligaments in his left thumb against the Indians last June 24. Having Lasik surgery during the winter of '05 showed that he is seeing the ball much better.
Guzman is in the last year of his contract and is clearly the most consistent position player on the team. Entering Sunday's action, Guzman is leading the Nationals in batting average (.303), hits (40) and runs scored (19).
"He is healthy, having that [shoulder] surgery a couple of years ago," manager Manny Acta said. "He is making better contact and he's really enjoying the game. When you are healthy, that what happens."
Guzman said that it has been a long time since he felt this good at the plate.
"This year is different, because I'm not hurt. This year, thank God, I feel great," he said. "Minnesota is in the past. I'm trying to do it this year. I'm trying to pull for all my teammates and winning the games coming up."
Guzman got things started in the first inning when he swung at Paul Maholm's 2-0 pitch and hit a two-run homer over the left-field wall to give the Nationals a 2-0 lead. In the next inning, when Washington scored three runs, Guzman had an RBI single.
With the score tied at 5 in the sixth inning and Pirates right-hander Franquelis Osoria on the mound, Guzman had his biggest hit of the game, with a bases-clearing double. The last time Guzman had six RBIs in a game was on June 24, 2001, against the Tigers. Guzman was a member of the Twins at the time.
Three batters later, Austin Kearns singled to left-center field to make it a 9-5 game.
The hits by Guzman and Kearns turned out to be big, because Pittsburgh made it a close game by scoring a combined three runs in the next two innings off relievers Saul Rivera and Luis Ayala.
In the ninth, it was Guzman's glove, Acta and his coaching staff who saved the day. With Jon Rauch on the mound, the Pirates had a runner on second and two outs. Nate McLouth came to the plate and hit a hard shot up the middle, but Guzman was positioned perfectly and threw McLouth out to end the game.
"[Guzman] was positioned by design," Acta said. "The coaching staff does a tremendous job. We have a credible amount of stats and they do a great job with the stats that they get."
The only negative of the game was that left-hander Matt Chico had his fourth consecutive subpar game. He was staked to a 5-1 lead, but he couldn't hold it and was out of the game by the bottom of the fifth inning.
"When you have a lead, you should challenge guys more, instead of going out there and walking guys and putting guys on base," Acta said. "You should feel more relaxed. We are not scoring that many runs, and a day like today, they give you five runs, you should be eager to get on the mound, throw strikes and challenge guys. He really struggled to locate his fastball."
Chico said he was more relaxed and was going to take some positives out of the game. He pointed out that he was able to get out of jams, like in the first inning. Pittsburgh had the bases loaded, but didn't score.
"I threw a lot more inside than I did in the past. I was getting them off certain pitches. The pitches that they did hit, they hit over the middle of the plate," Chico said. "I was much more comfortable with this outing than I was the last three.
"Mechanically and mentally, I felt fine. I feel strong in both. You have to keep going and battle through this rut that I'm in. I feel like I'm starting to come out of it now, with getting out some of the jams that I did."
The Nationals have now won eight out of their past 11 games to improve to 13-18.
mlb.mlb.com/news/gameday_recap.jsp
