Potomac Nationals top Lynchburg

The 98 degree heat became so unbearable that Chris Curran dropped to a knee in the eighth inning of Tuesday's afternoon matinee against the Lynchburg Hillcats. Potomac Nationals' trainers emerged from the dugout, gave the baserunner water, put a cold towel around his neck and escorted him off the field after Curran reached second base on a fielder's choice.

Potomac has not played under the greatest circumstances during the past three days.

The Nationals returned to Woodbridge at 6 a.m. on Monday following an eight-hour bus ride from Myrtle Beach.

They played seven innings to complete a suspended game on Monday evening and seven more to complete a regularly scheduled game.

They awoke early Tuesday for a 12:05 p.m. game. All total, they played 23 innings in 22 hours.

But no one could have sensed fatigue among Nationals players and coaches following Tuesday's 5-2 victory.

"We feel good," shortstop Jose Lozada said. "We're not tired. We played a good game today and we've been playing a lot of good baseball."

Wins in eight of the last 11 games back up Lozada's words.

Five innings from starter Adrian Alaniz kept the Nationals close enough to overcome a 2-0 deficit. Potomac scored twice in the fourth, twice in the seventh and once in the eighth to maintain at least a one-game lead in the Northern Division for another day.

"That's as tough a stretch as you can have," manager Gary Cathcart said. "But it's a credit to our guys. They work their butts off and put themselves in a position where they have a chance to win the division and play some playoff ball."

Alaniz looked shaky in the first inning. Back-to-back singles by Jose Gualdron and Neftali Soto put runners at first and second base, respectively with one out.

Kyle Day followed Chris Richburg's strikeout with a two-run double to put the Hillcats ahead 2-0.

Alaniz then settled down. He tallied at least one strikeout in four of his final five innings and picked off Efrain Contreras to end the top of the second. Alaniz also forced Contreras to ground into a force play to end a bases-loaded two out threat in the sixth.

Alaniz struck out eight in six innings, allowed six hits, walked three and threw 63 of his 92 pitches for strikes.

"I wasn't going to change anything just because they got those two early runs," Alaniz said. "I still had to go out there, get ahead with strikes and pitch my game."

A.J. Morris (4-2) pitched the next inning and two-thirds to earn the victory. He retired all five of his hitters before giving way to Cory VanAllen, who struck out Day to end the top of the eighth.

Potomac's offense fed off of Alaniz's performance. Bill Rhinehart smacked his 12th home run of the year to lead off the fourth inning. Lozada scored the tying run four batters later on Curran's single.

The game stayed tied for the next two and a half innings. The Nationals (25-18 second half, 56-57 overall) put runners at first and third base in the bottom of the seventh.

Tyler Moore sent a ground ball which second baseman Cody Puckett ranged to his left to secure. Puckett recorded the out, but Dan Lyons scored.

Michael Burgess advanced to second on Moore's groundout. Rhinehart followed by sending a ball past third baseman Gualdron's glove. Gualdron was charged with an error and Burgess crossed the plate from second base.

Burgess batted in the eighth with the bases loaded. He sent a ball which appeared to be headed for the center field grass. Hillcats shortstop Shane Carlson cut the ball off and flipped to Puckett in hopes of forcing Lyons out at second. Lyons slid in safely and Lozada scored from third base.

Patrick McCoy surrendered a leadoff single to begin the ninth. But McCoy set down the next three batters to seal Potomac's victory and earn his second save.

The Nationals celebrated the victory with less than 24 hours to unwind before returning to Pfitzner Stadium to prepare for Wednesday's game.

"We knew it was going to be a hot day going into today's ball game," Alaniz said. "We just needed to grind this game out. I felt I had enough rest to go out there and compete well.

"I actually enjoy pitching in a hot environment."

Staff writer Robert Daski can be reached at 703-530-3913.