THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BALTIMORE — Danny Espinosa homered and drove in five runs, Jayson Werth hit two homers and had four RBIs, and the Nationals had their biggest offensive outing since moving to Washington in a 17-5 rout of the Baltimore Orioles on Friday night.
Roger Bernadina, Wilson Ramos and Laynce Nix also homered for the Nationals, who recorded a season-high 19 hits after being shut out in consecutive games. The six homers also set a Nationals record.
Henry Rodriguez (1-0) worked three scoreless innings for the victory.
The Expos became the Nationals in 2005, after the franchise moved to Washington from Montreal.
Espinosa, who entered the game with a .194 batting average, hit a three-run homer in the second, an RBI triple in the fourth and singled in a run in the fifth. He finished 3 for 4 to raise his average to .209, but fell a double shy of becoming the third Nationals player to hit for the cycle.
The Orioles lost their fourth straight, and have allowed 30 runs in their last two games and 42 during the skid.
Jake Arrieta (5-2) walked the first two batters in the second inning before Espinosa homered to right-centre off a 2-2 sinker.
The Orioles rallied with two outs in the third to tie the game. Nick Markakis dribbled an infield single, went to third on Vladimir Guerrero’s single to centre and both runners scored when Matt Wieters’ drive to centre glanced off the glove of a backpedaling Bernadina at the centre-field warning track for a gift double. Luke Scott then singled home Wieters.
Washington went up 6-3 in the fourth. Wilson Ramos was hit by a pitch and Espinosa hit a tiebreaking triple off the centre-field wall. Jerry Hairston Jr. then singled threw a drawn-in infield to score Espinosa.
Arrieta departed after loading the bases with one out on a walk to Nix, and reliever Jason Berken’s first pitch hit Werth in the left arm to force in a run.
Arrieta allowed six runs on six hits, walked three and struck out three.
Nationals starter Jason Marquis walked Mark Reynolds leading off the third and Ryan Adams singled for his first major league hit. Felix Pie’s double to centre scored Reynolds, but Pie was tagged out between second and third, and Adam Jones followed with a sacrifice fly to cut the deficit to 6-5.
In the fifth, Ramos tripled in a run and scored on Espinosa’s RBI single before Bernadina and Werth hit two-run homers to make it 12-5. Bernadina’s drive to centre glanced off a leaping Adam Jones’ glove and into the Orioles bullpen.
Marquis worked four innings, yielding five runs on eight hits. He walked three and struck out two.
Hairston had an RBI single in the sixth. Werth hit a solo shot off Michael Gonzalez in the seventh for his ninth career multiple-homer game.
Ramos hit his third homer leading off the eighth. Nix added a two-run blast in the ninth.
Notes: Washington’s previous best of 15 runs in a game was done twice, July 20, 2008, at Atlanta and Aug. 25, 2009, at the Chicago Cubs. … Before the game, the Orioles selected Adams’ contract from Triple-A Norfolk and recalled OF Nolan Reimould from the same club. LHP Troy Patton was designated for assignment by Baltimore. … Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo said 3B Ryan Zimmerman, on the 15-day disabled list following May 3 surgery to repair a torn abdominal muscle, would report to the team’s Viera, Fla., headquarters to begin a rehabilitation program "in the very near future." … Washington bullpen coach Jim Lett was a minor league roommate of professional wrestler Randy "Macho Man" Savage, who died in an automobile accident in Tampa on Friday morning. The two played at Single-A Tampa, the Reds’ Florida State League affiliate, in 1974. Savage, then known as Randy Poffo, hit .232 with nine homers and 66 RBIs in his final minor league season. … Guerrero had his sixth consecutive multihit game, a new career high. … Brad Wilkerson (2005) and Cristian Guzman (2008) are the only Nationals players to hit for the cycle.
