Time: 2:50
Attendance: 28,738
Honestly, there wasn’t much to cheer about Sunday afternoon,
despite it being Baby Shark Day. The afternoon was warm and muggy, with light
rain off and on. The Nats had just a handful of baserunners in the first eight
innings off St. Louis starter Andre Pallante, only one of whom got as far as
second base. After fanning 4 of the first 7 batters he faced, Josiah Gray
allowed one run in the third (double, wild pitch, RBI grounder) and then lost
the strike zone in the fourth, walking two before allowing a home run to Corey
Dickerson. Paul DeJong hit a solo shot off Jordan Weems two innings later for
the final run of the day.
There was a bit of excitement in the bottom of the ninth, as
a leadoff single by light-hitting backup catcher Tres Barrera was followed by a
Lane Thomas double, ending Pallante’s bid for a complete game. (During the
pitching change, we did get a few seconds of “fame” on the big screen, thanks
largely to my t-shirt featuring a shark holding the 2019 championship trophy.) Cardinals
closer Ryan Helsley ended any hope of a rally by fanning César Hernández and
Juan Soto before retiring Josh Bell to finish the shutout.
The drive down was uneventful, although the return trip
featured a much longer backup than usual to get onto the Beltway, not to
mention a hard rain that fortunately waited until the game was over. At least
our pre-game lunch at Atlas Brew Works/Andy’s Pizza went well, with an
excellent large cheese pizza feeding four of us for just $22.00.
