Photo by Ian Koski/Nationals Daily News
“Don’t get too caught up in the calendar, but June is over.” Manager Jim Riggleman’s got a point there.
The Washington Nationals pulled off a bottom of the ninth 2-1 victory thanks to a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded and one out off the bat of Ryan Zimmerman. Up until then, the starting pitching on both sides proved solid and spectacular for the National League East rivals. It was a pitching duel for sure.
Nats starter Livan Hernandez went up against Johan Santana going seven innings. The only tarnish on his night came off the bat of Mets first baseman Ike Davis who hit an RBI single to score the first run. Besides that, Hernandez didn’t walk a single batter, struck out seven and threw 107 pitches.
Hernandez left the game while the Mets maintained a 1-0 lead, but for the Nats to have notched a loss in Livo’s belt after that start … well that would be quite the heart-breaker.
Enter Nyjer Morgan. An unlikely candidate perhaps, but the man saved the game. Morgan now leads the team in multi-game hits at 23 and tied up the game for the Nats in the seventh.
“He’s given us a chance just about every time,” Riggleman said about Morgan. “He doesn’t give in.”
Morgan’s seventh inning RBI was the end to a string of events put together by the Nats offense to make the push toward victory. Desmond led off with a single, making it to third on a Santana wild pitch past Henry Blanco, followed by the two out hit by Morgan.
Defense was tight, no errors were recorded, but one issue was obvious – the Nats know how to strand runners.
Inning after inning men were placed in scoring position only to lose their shot at a run due to routine pop flies, grounders, and strikeouts.
Capps got the win, Hernandez didn’t add a loss after a stellar outing, and the Nats win the first game of a ten game homestand.
Rachel moved to DC in the fall of 2005 to study Journalism and Music at American University. When she’s not keeping up with the latest Major League Baseball news, she works on making music as an accomplished singer-songwriter and was even a featured performer/speaker at TEDxDupont Circle in 2012. Rachel has also contributed to The Washington Examiner and MASN Sports’ Nationals Buzz as a guest blogger. See why she loves DC. E-Mail: rachel@welovedc.com.
And Phillies fans everywhere thank the Nats for their scrappiness.
Where I come from, being scrappy is seen as a positive character trait. Just saying.
Rachel, I agree. I’m just saying that the suddenly injury-riddled Phils need the Nats to come through this weekend against the effing Mets.
Yeah, scrappiness is a good trait! When you don’t have the talent yet, you need to compensate by playing harder.