• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Lopez leads Nationals over Orioles in extra innings

Jun 14, 2007 - 4:49 AM BALTIMORE (Ticker) -- The "Battle of the Beltway" lived up to its name Wednesday.

Felipe Lopez's three-run triple off Chris Ray in the 11th inning gave the Washington Nationals a 9-6 victory over the Baltimore Orioles in interleague play Wednesday.

Ryan Church and Austin Kearns added two RBI apiece for the Nationals in a game that saw both teams rally from deficits in the late innings.

"I think we felt like the whole game that we should have won the game," Kearns said. "We got some tough breaks which happens, but we stayed in there and finished it out."

With two outs and none on the 11th, Ray (3-5) induced a soft fly to left off the bat of Robert Fick. However, Orioles' shortstop Miguel Tejada and left fielder Jay Payton failed to make a play on what appeared to be a routine out.

"I didn't see the replay so I don't know what happens there or how close Jay was to that ball," Baltimore manager Sam Perlozzo said. "If the outfielder feels like he can get to that ball, he calls off the shortstop."

Ray then issued back-to-back walks to Ryan Langerhans and Cristian Guzman before Lopez grounded a 2-1 pitch down the right field line for his third triple of the year.

"It was a key at-bat of the game," Nationals' manager Manny Acta said. "The credit goes to Lopez. He is the one had the good at-bat and that huge hit for us there."

Billy Traber (2-0) pitched a scoreless 10th inning to earn the victory and Saul Rivera pitched a perfect 11th for his third save of the season.

Payton's two-out, two-run double in the seventh highlighted a three-run rally for the Orioles, who went ahead 5-4.

However, RBI singles by Kearns and Church with two outs in the the eighth inning put the Nationals ahead once again.

"We battled back," Kearns said. "That is the big thing. Nobody hung their heads."

Payton's two-out RBI single off closer Chad Cordero in the bottom of the ninth knotted the game, 6-6, and forced extra innings. The check-swing bloop to center, which landed just beyond the reach of second baseman Lopez, was the 1,000th hit of Payton's career.

The Nationals guaranteed themselves a fourth consecutive series win on the road. The last time they did that in a season was August 14-September 2, 2001, when the team was the Montreal Expos.

"We just want to keep winning ball games," Acta said. "Regardless of who we play. We've got a lot of catch-up to do. Everybody knows what our goal is here and that's to keep on winning."

Washington starter Matt Chico, who has yet to win in seven road starts, allowed three runs - two earned - and eight hits. The 24-year-old lefthander struck out three and walked one in 6 2/3 innings.

Baltimore starter Steve Trachsel allowed four runs, six hits and two walks in seven innings. Signed just before the start of season, Trachsel has yet to lose at home this season at 3-0 with a 2.65 ERA over six starts.