Umpires:
HP: Bill Welke. 1B: James Hoye. 2B: Bob Davidson. 3B: John Tumpane.
Weather:
74 degrees, cloudy.
Wind: 4
mph, Out to RF.
T: 3:04
(:12 delay).
Att:
24,113.
After
scoring the winning run in the bottom of the ninth on Saturday, and the bottom
of the eleventh inning on Sunday and Monday, the Nats somehow put together an
easy 8-1 victory behind Strasburg on Tuesday night. On Wednesday, however, they
were back to their old tricks.
Like
Sunday’s game, it started out as a pitcher’s duel, this time between Tanner
Roark and Arizona’s Trevor Cahill. Roark was outstanding despite a high pitch
count in the first couple of innings, holding the D-Backs scoreless through
seven on just five hits and a single walk. Meanwhile, the Nats cobbled together
a second-inning when with one out Desmond singled, took second on Harper’s
single, stole third, and scored on a Wilson Ramos grounder when Harper’s hard
takeout slide prevented Arizona from turning the inning-ending double play.
They added a second run in the sixth on consecutive doubles by Asdrubal Cabrera
and Jayson Werth.
Given the
Nats’ recent history, however, late-inning dramatics shouldn’t have been
surprising. The normally-reliable Tyler Clippard entered in the eighth and
yielded his second game-tying homer in as many appearances, this one by
light-hitting D-Backs centerfielder Ender Inciarte after a walk to the leadoff
hitter. After neither team threatened in the next two half-innings, Harper led
off the bottom of the ninth with a single and moved to third on a one-out
single by Kevin Frandsen, in the lineup at third base to give Anthony Rendon a
well-deserved rest. Fortunately, that meant that Rendon was available to
pinch-hit for Rafael Soriano, and he lined a ball just inside the third base
line to send almost everyone in the relatively sparse crowd home happy.
It was
raining in Rockville when we left shortly after 5:00, and kept raining
throughout the drive, although it had pretty much stopped (and fortunately did
not resume) by the time we got inside the stadium. Decided to try the Arizona
Quesadillas in honor of the visiting team – not bad, but somewhat on the sloppy
side for eating in the stands, and the salsa was packed too tightly for
convenient dipping.
No comments:
Post a Comment