After having to go through two hours of light delays last night, the Washington Nationals were back at it again this afternoon, finishing up their suspended game against the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Nats entered the day leading this game 3-2 in the top of the sixth inning. Tanner Roark, who threw seven pitches last night, stayed on the mound to start today’s game.
In the top of the sixth, Adrian Gonzalez came up to the plate with one out and hit a solo home run to left field. His 21st of the season and second of the game tied it at three. Roark would end up going two innings, giving up one run on two hits, striking out three, and not walking a batter.
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After Aaron Barrett and Casey Janssen thru hitless innings in the seventh and eighth innings respectively, the Nationals would find a way to take back the lead in the bottom of the eighth against reliever Pedro Baez.
With one out, Tyler Moore would hit a base hit to center field. Michael Taylor would follow up with a fielder’s choice. Then, Matt den Dekker hit the first pitch from Baez to the upper deck in right field for a go-ahead two run homer. His second of the season gave the Nats a 5-3 lead and was the team’s second two run homer of the game.
With the two run lead, it was up to Drew Storen to close it down in the ninth, but he ran into some trouble. The inning started with a Yasiel Puig leadoff walk and a single to center field by Andre Ethier. With two on and no one out, Jimmy Rollins flew out to center and Alberto Callaspo flew out to left on a total of four pitches.
That set the stage for the matchup between Storen and rookie center fielder Joc Pederson. Pederson got behind 0-2, but he nearly gave Los Angeles the lead during the at-bat when he hit a 2-2 changeup just foul down the left field line.
Storen would strike Pederson out swinging with a slider in the dirt to end the game and secure his 28th save in 30 chances this season. Casey Janssen (1-2, 3.63) picked up his first win for the Nats while Pedro Baez (2-2, 3.42) took the loss.
Next Game: The Washington Nationals (49-39) and Los Angeles Dodgers (51-40) will play their originally scheduled game at 4:05 PM ET. You can catch the game on MASN and FOX Sports 1. Clayton Kershaw (6-6, 2.85) gets the start for the Dodgers against Doug Fister (3-4, 4.08) for the Nats.