Nationals pitchers doing job with bats

Entering Friday’s action, Nationals pitchers have recorded at least one hit in six out of the last nine games, going 8-for-18 [.444] with a walk and five RBIs.

Prior to that current hot streak, Washington pitchers went 10-for-112 [.089] with three RBIs in the first 75 games. Manager Manny Acta credits the young starters such as John Lannan and Craig Stammen for taking pride in their hitting.    

“They aren’t doing anything that they haven’t done before,”  Acta said. “They work on their hitting. They work on their bunting. These younger kids that we have now are god athletes. They kind of take pride on getting better on that kind of stuff. In the past, we had some guys who were not good athletes or have been around and didn’t care much about that stuff.”