Photo by Ian Koski / Nationals Daily News
The Nationals’ losing streak stopped at six games tonight, as Livo outpitched Bruce Chen, and Mike Morse and Cristian Guzman each struck for solo homers in the 2-1 victory. Matt Capps, after surrendering two hits in the 9th, retired the side on three brutal called strikeouts to pick up his 21st save and cement Livo’s sixth win.
The story of the day may have been off-the-field with John Lannan’s demotion, but the Nats worked through their issues tonight to pick up the victory. Ryan Zimmerman showed a patience at the plate he’d been lacking, walking three times off KC starter Bruce Chen. Nyjer Morgan continued an epic battle at the plate, going deep into the count three times tonight, but came away with a 1-2 night. The 3/4/5 slots, though, finished the night 0-8 with 3 BBs and 2 Ks.
Catcher Pudge Rodriguez had a strong outing behind the plate tonight, gunning down two runners at second, and erasing Callaspo in the sixth after he got caught off second on a strike to Aviles. Pudge erased almost 25% of the hits with his pickoff move tonight, which is impressive.
Notes: Many fewer in the house tonight, final crowd of 13,592, which may have been generous… Mike Morse is en fuego when he starts, hitting .428 (12 for 28), but Manager Jim Riggleman is committed to the platoon approach.
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.
13,500 – ouch. For a win no less. Oh well.