Weather: 90 degrees, Partly Cloudy.
Wind: 7 mph, In From LF.
Umpires: HP--Guccione, 1B--Carlson, 2B--Gibson, 3B--Segal.
Time: 3:07
Attendance: 25,483
First pitch: 6:05 PM
It was an interesting first inning for Stephen Strasburg Wednesday
evening. The good news: he fanned the first two batters, and induced a harmless
ground ball for the third out after walking Garrett Cooper. The bad news: he
needed 20 pitches to get through the frame. On an oppressively hot and humid
day, I remember thinking that he wasn’t destined to get very deep into the
game.
Strasburg had other ideas. He continued to pile up strikeouts (13
through 7 innings, including an immaculate 9-pitch 4th where he
struck out the side). During that time, he allowed only two baserunners, both
harmless singles. No one even reached second base.
Meanwhile, the Nats struggled to get on the scoreboard against Miami
starter Sandy Alcantara, the team’s lone All-Star representative. After wasting
two-out doubles in the second and third, they loaded the bases with just one
out in the fourth on two walks and an
error, but Alcantara retired Robles and
Gomes on strikes to extinguish the threat.
The home team finally broke through in the 6th, on a one-out
single by Soto and a two-out homer by Dozier (which I more or less called).
Dozier’s dinger also enabled the Nats to set a franchise record, with at least
one home run in 17 straight games.
Stras still looked strong, ending the top of the 7th at 98
pitches, so Martinez let him hit in the bottom of the inning and come back out
for the 8th. He promptly walked leadoff hitter JT Riddle and hit
Bryan Holaday with a pitch. He exited one batter later to a standing ovation
after fanning pinch-hitter Brian Anderson. Fernando Rodney allowed a single to
Nats-killer Miguel Rojas to load the bases, but got a double-play grounder to
end the inning and protect the shutout.
Matt Adams’ solo homer in the bottom of the inning provided some
insurance, which felt good as Sean Doolittle navigated a rocky 9th
inning. After retiring the first batter, he allowed three straight singles to
load the bases. He struck out Riddle after falling behind 3-1, but then hit
Cesar Puello to force in a run. We could finally exhale when he fanned Yadiel
Rivera to nail down the save.
The early start and the lack of rain let the Nats proceed with their
post-game “Freedom Fireworks” display. Somewhat oddly, the musical
accompaniment began with “Time Of The Season” by the very-British Zombies. The
remaining selections were certainly all-American, although I thought that CCRs “Bad
Moon Rising” was an equally discordant choice to end a celebratory show. (Check
out the lyrics if you don’t believe me.) Perhaps “Proud Mary”, or even “Born On
The Bayou”, which actually mentions the Fourth of July?
