Employing a herky-jerky old-school windup with an occasional hint of hesitation, Rogers gave the Nationals the length they needed to spare their overtaxed bullpen and picked up his first major league victory since Aug.
I loved that,” Nationals manager Davey Martinez said in his postgame Zoom session with reporters.
“This whole organization has given me an opportunity to pitch back in the big leagues.
Rogers, signed to a minor league deal by the Nats on June 4 and stashed at Rochester, became the club-record 58th player used by Washington this season.
“My command tonight wasn’t really Alonso, 3-0 to the next hitter,” he said.
When the Orioles released him in June, Rogers wondered whether his time in baseball was done, but he quickly took the Nationals’ offer to start at Triple-A.
There was a lot of low points in this whole thing, with the COVID year, the passing of my grandfather, I was out.
Rogers got off to a rough start in the opening inning, but rebounded nicely to hold the deficit at 1-0.
Lane Thomas led off with a fly ball that just kept carrying until it cleared the center field wall, tying the game.
Another home run gave the Nats some breathing room in the fifth inning.
Kevin Pillar, the only Met to have faced Rogers previously, launched a two-run homer in the sixth that cut the lead to 4-3.
The other thing is, if you look at our bullpen usage, we’ve been going to our bullpen a lot.