Weather: 55 degrees, Cloudy.
Wind: 16 mph, In From LF.
Umpires: HP--Torres, 1B--Conroy, 2B--Miller, 3B--Eddings.
Time: 3:15
Attendance: 23,430
Section 313, Row E, Seats 18-19 – our new “home away from home” for the
season. Directly behind home plate, on the aisle, one row from the top of the
section.
Although Washington’s bullpen was ineffective for a third straight
game, the Nats managed to pull this one out, avoiding a season-opening sweep at
the hands of their division rivals. Patrick Corbin kept things under control in
his first start for the team, allowing plenty of baserunners and failing to
record a single 1-2-3 inning, but giving up only 2 runs in his 6 innings of
work. Washington got on the board in a big way in the bottom of the third on a
3-run Trea Turner homer, following a Robles double and an Eaton single. They
added a run in the 5th on a 2-out Rendon RBI single, and one more
2-out run the next inning on Robles’ second double of the game.
As was the case Saturday, the Washington bullpen started off well, with
Justin Miller retiring the Mets in order in the seventh. Recently-signed LOOGY Tony
Sipp allowed singles to both left-handed hitters he faced in the 8th,
while getting out the right-handed J.D. Davis in between. He was replaced by
Trevor Rosenthal, who failed to retire any of the four batters he faced the
previous day and continued his streak by giving up a single to Amed Rosario on
his first (and last) pitch of the afternoon. Normally-reliable closer Sean
Doolittle entered and fanned Jeff McNeil for the second out, but former Nat
Wilson Ramos and Juan Lagares then notched consecutive hits to tie the game.
The score remained tied for the next two half-innings, but Trea hit his second
homer of the afternoon with one out in the 9th for the walk-off win,
earning himself a Gatorade shower on a chilly afternoon for his trouble.
Leaving Rockville at 10:00 and getting to the Nationals neighborhood
around 10:45 turned out to be not quite early enough to claim parking in our
usual area, so we circled back to the Lot-Formerly-Known-As-HH, which wound up
costing $15 rather than $10 as in the past. It may have actually been windier
than Monday’s exhibition game, but it was sunny and perhaps a bit warmer.