Washington Nationals Recap: Offense Explodes as Nats Beat Fish 13-3
By Nick Engle
The Washington Nationals played their final game this year against the Miami Marlins as they hoped to win the season series against the Miami Marlins and take three games out of this four-game weekend set.
The Nationals sent Stephen Strasburg to the hill, who has been fantastic in his last seven starts after coming off the DL, and the Miami Marlins sent out the rookie, Justin Nicolino.
The Nationals came out of the gate quickly in the bottom of the first inning. Yunel Escobar walked to bring up Bryce Harper who blooped one into center to put two on and one out for Jayson Werth. Werth came through in huge fashion with a bullet over Marcell Ozuna‘s head in center to drive in Escobar and Harper. Since Werth took third on the throw home, Ian Desmond had a chance to drive him in with any sort of contact and was able to do that with a sacrifice fly to center, making the score 3-0.
The Marlins were able to get one back in the top of the second. Derek Dietrich worked a walk and then took second on a wild pitch. After Miguel Rojas chopped one to Desmond for the second out, Dietrich was able to move up to third. Tomas Telis then put one in play but Desmond short hopped the throw to Tyler Moore and Telis reached on the error that allowed Dietrich to score to make it 3-1.
Both teams’ starters settled in after the first few innings and were able keep the score at 3-1 until the top of the sixth where Marcell Ozuna stayed back nicely on a curve from Stras and deposited it over the bullpen in left field. Strasburg was able to limit the damage by striking out the next batter to keep the score at 3-2.
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The Nationals then broke the game open in the bottom of the sixth. Escobar lead the inning off with a single and Bryce followed with a squibber single of his own up the third-base line. Werth then struck out, but Desmond walked, bringing Wilson Ramos to the plate with the bases loaded and one out. Ramos put the ball in play with a sacrifice fly to right, scoring Escobar. Tyler Moore then put the game out of reach with his second homer in as many days; this time a three-run shot into the visitor’s bullpen to make the score 7-2.
The Nationals were still not done after the Moore homer as Trea Turner was able to work a walk against the Marlins new pitcher Scott McGough. Strasburg then helped himself out with a single to right. Michael Taylor then walked loading the bases for Escobar with two outs. Escobar was able to clear the bases with a shot in the right-field gap to make the score 10-2.
Strasburg was excellent again going seven innings, giving up one earned run and striking out ten batters in the win. The bullpen was able to finish out the game only giving up a token run in the eighth.
The Nationals added on three more in the bottom of the eighth for good measure. Pedro Severino had his first career at-bat and almost put one in the seats but settled for a double. Escobar then singled up the middle scoring Severino. Harper continued his good day with a double the other way, putting runners on second and third for Matt den Dekker, who promptly singled to drive in Yunel and Harper to make the final score 13-3.
Next Game: The Washington Nationals (78-71) will start the last of the Beltway Series against the Baltimore Orioles (73-75) on Monday night at Nats Park. You can catch the game on MASN2 at 7:05 PM ET. The Nationals start Gio Gonzalez (11-7, 3.83 ERA) against Ubaldo Jimenez (11-9, 4.31 ERA) for the Orioles.
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