April 24, 2014 – Padres 4, Nationals 3 (12 innings) – Nationals Park

A baserunner is a terrible thing to waste

Umpires: HP: Cory Blaser. 1B: Jim Joyce. 2B: Doug Eddings. 3B: Marvin Hudson.

Weather: 62 degrees, partly cloudy.

Wind: 8 mph, In from LF.

T: 4:14.

Att: 22,904.

Last Sunday, the Nats set a team record for a nine-inning game by stranding 17 runners, but nevertheless managed a 3-2 win over St. Louis. They only left 14 on base tonight (13 through the first 9), but made franchise history in a slighty different way by going 0-16 with runners in scoring position. This time they weren’t so lucky, as San Diego finally pushed across a run against the Washington bullpen in the 12^th inning to score a 4-3 win. The 8^th, 10^th, and 12^th innings were particularly frustrating, as each time the Nats started out with a runner on second with no outs, only to see the next batter strike out rather than advancing the baserunner to third.

The Nats opened the scoring with a gift run in the bottom of the third. With one out, Padres starting pitcher Eric Stults attempted to pick Denard Span off first base but threw the ball away, allowing Span to get to third. Rendon followed by hitting a sac fly to left to score Span. After falling behind 3-1, they did come back to tie things up on solo homers by Espinosa in the sixth and LaRoche in the seventh.

Jordan Zimmermann turned in a decent outing for the Nats, allowing 3 runs in his 6 innings before being lifted for a pinch-hitter. He dominated the Padres for the first three innings, facing only the minimum 9 batters and keeping his pitch count low. (In a sign of possible trouble to come, though, he fell behind 2-0 to both the #8 and #9 hitters before getting them out.) He did allow a run in the fourth and two in the sixth, as the Padres did a much better job taking advantage of their opportunities. The bullpen then held the fort until San Diego finally scored on Stammen in his third inning of work. Clippard’s eighth inning performance, although scoreless, was not especially encouraging, as he wrapped three long fly ball outs to center field around a single and a walk.

We did get to see the Nats' first successful replay challenge -- San Diego's Yonder Alonso was initially ruled to have successfully stolen second base in the ninth, but was ruled out after review. We also saw an oddity in the bottom of the 11th inning, when Padres ace starting pitcher Andrew Cashner came out to play left field. Turns out that left fielder Seth Smith had to leave the game due to a strained groin, and manager Bud Black had planned to double-switch the pitcher and left fielder after the first batter of the inning. Thus, Cashner remained in the game for one uneventful batter, then left after the double switch.

This was the first night game of the season for me, so I had forgotten how crowded Metro can be at rush hour. Most of the Red Line leg was not too bad, but by Farragut North my car was completely packed. Did arrive early enough to get down to Subway (the usual roast beef on honey oat with lettuce, tomato, pickles and banana peppers), and took advantage of one of my $5 beer coupons at the Nats Dogs stand. It wasn't as cold/windy as it could have been, although I did wear a warmer jacket, as well as gloves for part of the game. I wound up leaving after the 11^th inning to be sure I wouldn’t miss the final Red Line train (so I did miss Harper getting doubled off second to end the game), and finally got back to Shady Grove a few minutes after midnight. (At least I didn’t have to pay to get out of the parking lot.)