Weather: 86 degrees, clear
Wind: 3 mph, out to RF
Umpires: HP--O'Nora, 1B--Blakney, 2B--Culbreth, 3B--Merzel.
Time: 2:36
Attendance - 19,759
Seats: Section 127, Row U, Seats 6-7. Narrow pie-shaped section on the first-base
side of the lower level, just above and to the right of some of the prime (meaning
really expensive) seats. Great view, only 7 seats in our row, although
unfortunately there was no aisle on our side.
Trois étoiles:
#3 – Marlins RF Jesus Sanchez, who singled in the top of the
first after Jazz Chisholm had walked and stolen second, driving in the only run
Miami would wind up needing.
#2 – Light-hitting (.133 BA, .479 OPS) catcher Alex Jackson,
whose two-run double in the top of the ninth provided the visitors with some
welcome insurance.
#1 – Sandy Alcantara, who shut out the Nats for 8 innings
after carrying a perfect game into the 6th and a no-hitter into the
7th.
Alcantara really was the story of this game. His toughest moment
came on the final pitch of the 4th, when Juan Soto took a full-count
slider and lined it off Alcantara’s left knee at 111.5 mph. The Marlins’
manager, pitching coach, and trainer joined him on the mound when he came back
to warm up for the next inning, but he continued to pitch with no apparent loss
of effectiveness. Washington finally got a baserunner leading off the 6th
when Chisholm booted a Keibert Ruiz grounder, and Josh Bell broke up the
no-hitter with two outs an inning later when he lined a single off the
right-field wall. Still unfazed, Alcantara fanned Yadiel Hernandez to end the
frame, and then retired the Nats on 6 pitches in the 8th, with his
final effort a 99.6 mph four-seamer.
Somewhat lost in Alcantara’s dominance was a solid if hectic
pitching performance by Paolo Espino, who gave up at least one hit in each of
the first five innings, but no runs after the first. Helping him out was
Alcantara’s ineptness with the bat: he fanned in all three of his plate
appearances, stranding the bases loaded in the top of the 4th.
Espino retired the side in the order in the 6th, marking his longest
major-league start. Sam Clay and Austin Voth also turned in 1-2-3 innings, but
Patrick Murphy allowed hits to the first three batters he faced in the 9th,
sending many of the fans heading for the exits. Zim provided a bit of hope when
he led off the bottom of the inning with a pinch-single off Dylan Floro, but
Lane Thomas grounded into a DP and Alcides Escobar grounded out to end the game,
leaving Soto waiting on deck and the home team deeper in the NL East basement.
Attendance-wise, the evening was somewhat of a success for
the Nats, as many of the 19000+ (including a surprising number of kids on a
school night) were presumably lured by the PenFed jacket giveaway. Since there
were 25,000 jackets available, everyone presumably went home happy with the promotion,
if not with the outcome of the game. At a brisk 2:36 – Alcantara likes to work
fast – at least it wasn’t a particularly late evening.
