Attendance: 35,695
Game Time 2:38
Weather: 61 degrees, cloudy
Wind: 4 mph
Umpires: Home Plate - Bill Miller, First
Base - Pat Hoberg, Second Base - Brian Knight, Third Base - Todd Tichenor
Seventh-inning stretch song: Let’s Dance –
David Bowie
KK KKK KKK
K KK KK KK KKK KK
With a big weeknight crowd on hand, this one
was billed as a classic pitcher’s duel between former Nat Jordan Zimmermann and
former Tiger Max Scherzer, who weren’t exactly traded for each other but
changed teams via free agency in successive off-seasons. While Zimmermann
pitched well, the night clearly belonged to Max, who tied the all-time major
league record for strikeouts in a 9-inning game with 20.
The game was close throughout. The Nats
struck first in the bottom of the first on a Rendon double followed by Harper
and Murphy singles. Detroit tied it when Jose Iglesias led off the top of the
third with a home run – one of only 3 of the first 12 Detroit batters who did
not strike out. Murphy drove in Rendon again in the bottom of the sixth to
restore the Nats’ one-run lead, by which point Scherzer had fanned 13.
Detroit finally got Max into some hot water
in the top of the seventh, getting runners into scoring position for the first
time in the game on a one-out Victor Martinez single and Justin Upton double.
Scherzer responded by striking out McCann and Gose to maintain the Nats lead.
After the stretch, Espinosa homered for the Nats to provide an insurance run.
With the crowd roaring, Max retired all 3
Detroit batters in the 8th on called third strikes, bringing his
total for the game to 18. Dusty had Papelbon warming up in the bottom of the
inning, but avoided a crowd mutiny by sending Scherzer out for the ninth. Things
got interesting when J.D. Martinez led off with a homer to cut the lead to one,
and (following a strikeout of Miguel Cabrera) Victor Martinez singled to put
the tying run on base. Max finished things off by fanning Justin Upton to tie
the record, then recording the final out on a ground ball to notch the win.
Getting there, however, was definitely not
half the fun. We left Westat shortly after 4:30 and encountered our worst
traffic ever on the GW Parkway, not getting parked and to the game until
shortly before the opening pitch. We thus missed out on the Bryce Harper MVP
Bobblehead giveaway, but the historic ballgame (and the relatively warm and surprisingly
rain-free evening) more than made up for it.
