courtesy of philliefan99
A few hundred people bore witness as the midnight hour crept just passed 1 a.m. at Nationals Parks on Tuesday morning as the Nats beat the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers 4-0. Due to rain, the game fell subject to a 3 hour and 17 minute rain delay starting in the middle of the 4th inning. The total time of the delay even ended up being longer than the total amount of playing time it took the Nats to win it.
Both teams fielded some of their most reliable starting pitchers. Right-handed pitchers Zack Greinke and Jordan Zimmermann each performed prior to the rain forcing them out of the game. In fact, the two-run shutout Washington carried into the bottom of the eighth with them was recorded within the first two home team at-bats of the long, long night.
Greinke gave up a leadoff double to outfielder Denard Span in the bottom of the first inning before Anthony Rendon went long to the Red Porch in left-center field for his fifth homerun of the season. Washington then maintained that two-run lead up through the bottom of the eighth when second baseman Danny Espinosa gave the Navy Yard neighborhood a reason to hear the subhorn after midnight. Espinosa hit a two-run homerun to the Nats bullpen in right field off rookie right-handed reliever Pedro Baez with nobody out to give Washington a 4-0 lead.
By the time the game wrapped up, a total of six Nats pitchers threw against the Dodgers. Five relief pitchers, including: Aaron Barrett, Jerry Blevins, Drew Storen, Tyler Clippard, and Rafael Soriano, tossed five scoreless innings which allowed Zimmermann’s work in the top half of the game to not go wasted.
Zimmermann threw four innings and gave up five hits while striking out three on 55 and 41 strikes. Barrett got the win. He is now 2-0
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.
