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Nats pound O's

May 21, 2011 - 5:21 AM Baltimore, MD (Sports Network) - Danny Espinosa knocked in five runs and was a double short of the cycle to lead Washington past the Orioles, 17-5, in the opener of a three-game series.

Jayson Werth went deep twice to go along with home runs by Espinosa, Roger Bernadina, Wilson Ramos and Laynce Nix to give the Nationals their third win in five games.

"We know we can hit, but for everyone to get going like that and just go off in a game like that. It felt unbelievable," said Espinosa.

Starter Jason Marquis only lasted four innings, allowing five runs on eight hits. The win went to Henry Rodriguez (1-0) as he pitched three scoreless innings of relief.

Jake Arrieta (5-2) lasted just 3 2/3 innings to take the loss. He allowed six runs on six hits and three walks while fanning three in the Orioles' fourth straight defeat.

Adam LaRoche and Ramos worked back-to-back walks to lead-off the second and Espinosa followed with a home run, after a 10-pitch at-bat that included six foul balls, to give Washington a three-run advantage.

Nick Markakis reached base with two outs on a dribbler down the third base line and Vladimir Guerrero followed with a bloop single to put men on the corners in the third. Matt Wieters then hit a double to deep center that should have been the third out, but it bounced off the glove of Bernadina to allow Markakis and Guerrero to cross the plate. Luke Scott followed with an RBI single to knot the game at three.

Espinosa tripled to knock in Ramos in the fourth after Ramos was hit by a pitch. Jerry Hairston Jr. then singled to score Espinosa. The Nationals later loaded the bases with two down in the inning after Bernadina singled and Nix walked to chase Arrieta from the game.

"I felt off tonight. Pretty much the first time all year I felt this way...I searched for answers, tried to make adjustments but I just wasn't able to do that," Arrieta said about his performance.

Jason Berken entered in relief and hit Werth with the first pitch he threw to bring in Hairston and make the score 6-3.

Mark Reynolds walked to leadoff the bottom of the fourth and was followed by a Ryan Adams single. Felix Pie then doubled to bring in Reynolds and move Adams to third. Adam Jones followed with a sacrifice fly that scored Adams and put the Orioles within a run.

Washington answered back again in the fifth, this time with six runs to take control of the game for good.

LaRoche led off the inning with a walk and scored on Ramos' triple. Espinosa then singled in Ramos before Bernadina hit a two-run homer that bounced off of center fielder Jones' glove and went over the wall. Next, Ian Desmond singled before Werth deposited a ball into the right-center field bleachers two batters later to make the score 12-5.

The Nats added another run in the sixth when Hairston singled in Ramos and Werth hit his second homer of the night in the seventh to give Washington its 14th run.

Ramos added a solo shot in the eighth and Nix hit a two-run homer in the ninth to finalize the scoring.

Game Notes

Adams made his major-league debut tonight. He started at second base for Baltimore...Marquis also walked three and struck out two...The 17 runs the Nationals scored was the most the franchise has scored since moving to Washington.