Nationals Recap: Gio Gonzalez Makes Strong Spring Debut In Loss To Braves
By Ricky Keeler
On Monday, the Washington Nationals (3-2) lost their second straight game of the spring 2-1 to the Atlanta Braves (2-4) at Space Coast Stadium in Viera. For the Nats, it was their offense that struggled today, producing six hits against five Atlanta pitchers. There were a couple offensive players that stood out, but the main takeaway from this game should be about today’s starting pitcher, Gio Gonzalez.
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Gonzalez, who was making his spring debut this afternoon, threw 19 pitches and was very effective. He went two innings, gave up one hit and stuck out one (Jose Peraza went down looking in the first inning). The only hit Gio gave up came in the second inning when Braves catcher Christian Bethancourt hit a line drive down the left field line for a double.
The Braves would score their only two runs in the game in the top of the third inning against Tanner Roark. While Roark was much better today than he was last Thursday against the Mets, he made one mistake. With one out in the inning, former Met Eric Young Jr. hit a two-run homer to right field to get Atlanta on the board. Roark went two innings, gave up two runs on two hits and struck out two.
The other Nationals relievers (Craig Stammen, Matt Grace, Evan Meek, Taylor Hill, and Eric Fornataro) threw five innings of shutout ball. They combined to give up five hits and struck out four batters while walking three.
Wandy Rodriguez was the starter for the Braves and the Nats bats did not do much damage against him. Rodriguez retired the first eight Nationals he faced until Tony Gwynn Jr. hit a single to center field in the third inning. Anthony Rendon would follow that up with an infield single, but Washington could not drive either one of them home.
Gwynn Jr. and Rendon were the only two Nationals to record hits against Rodriguez and former Nats’ pitcher Chien Ming-Wang on the afternoon. Gwynn Jr. made some solid contact in the fifth inning against Wang. He hit a ball all the way to the right field wall for his second hit of the day, but was thrown out at third trying to stretch a double into a triple. Rendon would leadoff the sixth inning with a single to left field.
There weren’t many substitutions today as every member of the Nationals starting lineup got three at-bats. This included Rendon, Ryan Zimmerman, Bryce Harper, Ian Desmond, Danny Espinosa, and Wilson Ramos. Derrick Robinson, who was recently promoted to Major League camp, did record an infield single in his only at-bat in the bottom of the eighth.
Washington would attempt to come back in the ninth inning against Braves’ reliever Jake Brigham. With two outs and runners on first and second, Steven LeRud hit a ball to deep left center field that bounced over the fence for a ground rule double, cutting the Braves’ lead to 2-1. Wilmer Difo had a chance to win the game, but struck out swinging to end the rally.
As far as the defense goes, Rendon made a great diving play in the top of the sixth inning on a groundball by Alberto Callaspo. Zimmerman would continue his good fielding at first base this spring with an excellent pick to get the out. Plus, Desmond played a ball barehanded in the top of the third inning on a hop and was able to record another out on Callaspo.
On Tuesday, the Nationals will travel to Jupiter, Florida to take on the Miami Marlins at 1:05 PM ET. Max Scherzer will make his second start of the spring for the Nats against Dan Haren for Miami.