Jayson Werth kept the Washington Nationals' season alive with an epic 13-pitch at-bat culminating in a walk-off home run to force a decisive Game 5.
Patrick Reddington of Federal Baseball described the game the way it was meant to be described: incoherently, and in all-caps.
JAYSON WERTH!!! HOME RUN! HOME RUN!!! WALK-OFF WINNER!! THERE'S GONG TO BE A GAME FIVE!!! WERTH WORKS A 13 PITCH AB AND HOMERS TO LEFT! GONE GONE GONE!! NATS WIN!!! NATS WIN!!
It's easy to highlight Werth's game-winner, but that buries much of the story of the game: Ross Detwiler and the Nats bullpen combined for nine innings of baseball without allowing an earned run. On the flip side, Washington's bats were more or less dormant for most of the game: before Werth's solo shot, the only run of the game had come on Adam LaRoche's second-inning solo blast. The Nats have plated just a pair of runs in their two games at home.
Another factor in the game: a packed Nationals Park, which Reddington described as "literally rocking." Washington will need that sort of environment again for Game 5, with the winner advancing to the NLCS.