Adam LaRoche
courtesy of Keith Allison

The Washington Nationals took advantage of a young, less-than-mediocre Cubs pitching staff on Tuesday night when the team went on to beat Chicago 11-5. Manager Davey Johnson’s offensive lineup hit a franchise record six home runs off the Cubs, which is the most homeruns in a single home game by any Washington-based ballclub in baseball history.

Starting pitcher, right-hander Edwin Jackson also had quite the night on both sides of the game. He earned his ninth win of the year having pitched five and two-thirds innings. Jackson gave up seven hits, four earned runs, one walk, and struck out eight on 93 pitches (62 for strikes). Jackson also got in on the hitting action going 2-for-4 including a hit off Cubs rookie starter Chris Rusin.

Washington recorded 19 hits in the game, eight off Rusin in just one inning plus four batters of work. Rusin was recalled from Double-A Tennesse today to make his second career start with Chicago. He gave up five earned runs (two home runs), issued one walk, and struck out one. The Cubs went through seven pitchers total, including a new pitcher to throw in the first five innings. Right-handed pitcher Miguel Socolovich lasted the longest for Chicago by throwing two innings.

The Nats continued to highlight their strength with their at-bats; a feat seen live, in-person by a paid attendance of 17,548. Shortstop Ian Desmond, catcher Jesus Flores,  rookie outfielder Tyler Moore, third baseman Ryan Zimmerman, and first baseman Adam LaRoche – who went deep twice – hit home runs, setting off the Navy Yard’s subhorn. It was LaRoche’s third multi-homer game this season. 11 of Washington’s 19 hits were extra-base hits.

Rookie Christian Garcia also made his Major League debut Tuesday night pitching just one-third of an inning against Cubs catcher Wellington Castillo who popped out to LaRoche at first base. The rest of bullpen fared decently well. South paw Tom Gorzelanny pitched a not so pretty seventh when he walked the bases loaded. He got out of the jam thanks to the Cubs’ hottest hitter, Anthony Rizzo (of no relation to Nats General Manager Mike Rizzo), striking out to end the inning though.

Nats right-handed relievers Ryan Mattheus and Michael Gonzalez pitched the final two innings, one a piece, giving up just one hit in the eighth – a home run to right-center field by ex-Nationals outfielder Alfonso Soriano.

This was Washington’s eighty third win of the season.

Rachel Levitin

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.