Win!
courtesy of oddlittlebird.
It was business as usual at Nats Park Monday afternoon when the Nationals faced the fifth place Chicago Cubs. Left-handed starter Ross Detwiler soared to his ninth victory of the season with a 2-1 win and held the Cubs scoreless during his seven innings pitched.
Detwiler gave up four hits while issuing three strike out and three walks over 93 pitches thrown (62 for strikes). His performance denied the Cubs run support but Chicago’s starter righter-hander Jeff Samardzija was playing it just the same.
Washington scored one run off of Samardzija in the second inning. It was a Adam LaRoche solo homerun to right field on a 0-1 pitch. The Nats relied on that run for the duration of the game up until they got some security in the form of a Ryan Zimmerman RBI double down the left field line in the eighth inning. Bryce Harper jetted along the base path from first to score on that play, putting the Nats up 2-0.
Drew Storen went on to pitch a scoreless eighth but the ninth became a little bit of trouble for the Nats once closer Tyler Clippard entered the game. Clippard allowed a run to score in the ninth. Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo leadoff with a single and advanced to second due to defensive indifference. While the next two Cubs popped out to the outfield, Clippard gave up an RBI single to Cubs catcher Wellington Castillo allowing Rizzo to score.
The good news is that Clippard went on to secure his 30 save of the season and get the win for Detwiler by striking out third baseman Josh Vitters. Nats win 2-1.
The win was the Nats’ 82 of the season which marks the team’s first winning season since moving to Washington in 2005.
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.
Please tell me the Arrested Development reference was intentional.