José Tena hit a game-winning RBI single in the 10th inning on the same day he was called up from the minor leagues, helping the Washington Nationals beat the Los Angeles Angels 5-4 on Saturday night. This win marked their second walk-off victory in two days.
James Wood hit a home run, and Alex Call had his fifth straight multi-hit game for Washington, which has won two games in a row after falling to a season-low 12 games under .500 on Thursday.
Tena’s second RBI hit of the night was the Nationals’ third walk-off win and their 31st come-from-behind victory of the year.
“I told him he wasn’t going to bunt,” Washington manager Dave Martinez said. “I said, ‘I want you to drive this run in and try to stay in the middle of the field.’ And he drove it. He’s got a nice swing.”
Zach Neto hit his 17th home run of the season as part of a three-hit game for the Angels.
CJ Abrams, who was pinch-running for catcher Keibert Ruiz, advanced to third base when Roansy Contreras (2-2) threw a wild pitch to start the 10th inning.
Tena, who was making his debut with the Nationals after being traded from Cleveland last month as part of the deal for Lane Thomas, hit the next pitch off the wall in left-center to secure the win.
“The manager had told me I was going to win the game for us,” Tena said through a team interpreter. “Once I realized the hit was going to be the game-winning one, I turned around and gave him a little grin.”
Derek Law (7-2) pitched two innings of one-hit ball and lowered his ERA to 2.91. Law is tied for second in the majors with 59 appearances, and Saturday was the 15th time he pitched at least two innings.
“What he’s done for us not just tonight but the whole year, this guy just takes the ball,” Martinez said. “We talked the other day about how you never have to ask whether he’ll pitch or not. If you call his name out, he’ll be ready to pitch.”
Four Nationals relievers gave up only two hits and a walk over six scoreless innings. The Angels went 1 for 14 with runners in scoring position on Saturday and are 2 for 27 for the series.
“That’s not too good,” manager Ron Washington said. “I don’t know if you give credit to their pitchers over there to shut us down like that or we just didn’t have good at-bats.”
The Nationals tied the game 4-4 in the seventh inning against Angels starter Griffin Canning. James Wood doubled in Juan Yepez with no outs, and then Tena followed with a single to left field to score Wood.
Canning pitched seven innings, matching a season high, and gave up four runs and eight hits without walking or striking out a batter.
Washington scored first on Wood’s opposite-field home run into the visitor’s bullpen in left-center to start the second inning. They took a 2-1 lead on Alex Call’s sharp single through the infield with one out in the third inning.
The Angels went ahead 3-2 in the fifth inning on Zach Neto’s leadoff home run off Patrick Corbin. After Logan O’Hoppe walked, Kevin Pillar doubled to right-center to drive him in, ending Corbin’s night.
Brandon Drury drove in Los Angeles’ first two runs with a sacrifice fly in the second inning and an RBI single in the fourth inning.
Corbin allowed four runs and eight hits in four-plus innings. He is 0-3 with a 9.45 ERA in four attempts to earn his 100th career victory since his last win against Cincinnati on July 19.
