Blankenhorn Breaks Spring Training Schneid With Homer for Nationals

It’d been a sluggish start to Spring Training for Travis Blankenhorn. But that changed on Thursday.

The Pottsville native is looking to earn a spot on the Washington Nationals roster but was off to a slow start before today’s game against the Miami Marlins.

Coming into Thursday’s game, Blankenhorn was a combined 0-6 at the plate with 4 strikeouts.

But in the bottom of the 8th inning of today’s game against the Marlins, Blankenhorn, pinch hitting, put a charge into a ball, sending a leadoff homer over the wall.

Apparently, there’s no video available of today’s game. But we can tell from some tweets that Blankenhorn’s homer was an opposite-field blast to left-center field and described by one Twitter user as a “no-doubter.”

The home run brought the Nats to within a run of the Marlins. Washington would add another run in the inning to force a 5-5 tie. Blankenhorn drew a walk in the 9th inning but was stranded on base and the game ended tied.