Washington Nationals Recap: Ramos RBI Double In 8th Gives Nats Sweep Over Braves
By Ricky Keeler
The Washington Nationals (17-15) continued their winning ways on Mother’s Day as they rallied from a 4-3 deficit in the bottom of the eighth against the Atlanta Braves (14-17) to win the game by a final score of 5-4. After Ryan Zimmerman tied the game with a RBI single, Wilson Ramos delivered a go-ahead RBI double down the right field line to seal the win. Not only are the Nats now 5-1 against the Braves this season, they finished the homestand at 5-1, have won four straight games, and have won 10 of their last 12.
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The Nationals came out in the first inning and were able to score quickly against Wood, who they beat in Atlanta back on April 29 (five earned runs over six innings). Yunel Escobar, who was in the leadoff spot today, led off with a base hit to center. Two batters later, with Escobar on second, Bryce Harper continued his hot streak at the plate when he hit a deep fly ball to center field that went off the glove of Cameron Maybin. That allowed Escobar to score to give the Nats the first run of the game on Harper’s double.
Later in the inning, Ryan Zimmerman would follow up Harper’s hit with a RBI double to right field to make it 2-0. Then, Wilson Ramos would cap the first inning scoring with an RBI single to right to extend the lead to 3-0. With that single, Ramos now has a 13-game hitting streak.
Normally, three runs would be enough for Jordan Zimmermann, but he had problems with his command today. In the top of the second, the Braves had two on and two out when Maybin hit a single to center that scored Alberto Callaspo to get Atlanta on the board. Then, Wood would help himself with a RBI single to center to make it 3-2. Wood had three hits against Zimmermann today.
The Braves would tie it in the third inning as Zimmermann gave up a two out RBI single to Jace Peterson. After that hit, Zimmermann kept the Braves off the scoreboard. He went six innings, gave up three runs on eight hits, struck out two, and walked three on 107 pitches.
As for Wood, he settled in after the first inning as he kept the Nats from generating many scoring threats. The Nats had a chance in the fifth with two on and Bryce Harper at the plate, but Dan Uggla would get picked off at second base. Uggla was in because Yunel Escobar left the game after the third inning due to a stomach bug. Wood went 6.2 innings, gave up three runs on eight hits, struck out seven, and walked one.
In the seventh, Atlanta was able to take the lead. After Freddie Freeman continued his usual Nats killing with a leadoff single to left, Jonny Gomes hit a fly ball to right that Bryce Harper lost in the sun, allowing Freeman to go to third. That set the stage for Alberto Callaspo to hit a flare over the head of Ryan Zimmerman that allowed Freeman to score and give Atlanta the lead against lefty Matt Grace.
However, the Nats would rally against Braves reliever Cody Martin in the eigthth. After a leadoff single by Ian Desmond and a walk to Jayson Werth, Martin would face Harper. After giving up the walk-off to him last night, Martin got Harper to hit into an infield fly.
Then, Zimmerman came thru with a base hit to center that scored Desmond. Zimmerman’s second RBI of the day tied the game at four. Wilson Ramos would step up after Zimmerman and hit a RBI double down the right field line. It bounced off the top of the wall and stayed in the park, which allowed the Nats first baseman to score from first and give the team a 5-4 lead on Ramos’ second RBI of the day.
Drew Storen would come in for the second straight day and close out the Braves by getting Freeman to fly out the track in center, struck out Gomes, and got Alberto Callaspo to ground out to short to record his 9th save in ten chances. Give credit to Sammy Solis, who got his first Major League win by giving up only one hit in the eighth inning.
Next Game: The Washington Nationals will begin a six game West Coast trip tomorrow night against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field as they look to extend their win streak to five games. You can catch the game at 9:40 PM ET on MASN2. Max Scherzer (2-3, 2.11) will get the start for the Nats against Josh Collmenter (3-3, 3.40) for the D’Backs.