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courtesy of ‘photopete’
The Nationals couldn’t deliver any of their 5 runners in scoring position on Wednesday night against Johnny Cueto and the Reds, and they let Ross Detwiler’s best start in recent memory get written into the books as a loss. The Nationals got their only run on a 400-foot bomb by Ryan Zimmerman to start the eighth, but couldn’t capitalize any further than that, despite having the bases loaded with one out in the ninth against the Reds’ Cordero.
A few close calls might have been the difference in the game for the Nationals. First base umpire Ed Rapuano saw things a bit differently than the rest of Nationals Park on a couple occasions, leading us to wonder if the old “tie goes to the runner” adage held true, or even held consistnt between innings.
The Nationals did their best to keep themselves in the game, and the 9th inning rally didn’t disappoint, until Wilson Ramos swung at the first pitch and found himself in a 6-4-3 double play to end the threat and the game.
It was disappointing to see Detwiler come away with a loss after such a strong outing. His only mistake was hanging that breaking pitch to Joey Votto in the first, and his 7 strikeouts were a career best. He tied a career best in pitches, with 103, in six innings. After the game, manager Davey Johnson said that the had hoped that Detwiler might trust his breaking ball more, but that he was pleased overall with the effort.
The Nats play for the rubber match tomorrow night at 7:05.
Notes: Pudge Rodriguez was in the dugout tonight, but is still recovering from an injury to his intercostal muscles. Stephen Strasburg got roughed up in Hagerstown. Draft pick Matt Purke will be introduced in a special press conference tomorrow at 3:45pm.
I live and work in the District of Columbia. I write at We Love DC, a blog I helped start, I work at Technolutionary, a company I helped start, and I’m happy doing both. I enjoy watching baseball, cooking, and gardening. I grow a mean pepper, keep a clean scorebook, and wash the dishes when I’m done. Read Why I Love DC.
Correction to above post:
Zimmerman’s solo HR led off the ninth, not the eighth. Which made the it all the more painful.