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Washington Nationals: Daniel Murphy Goes 4-for-5 In 13-2 Win Over Royals

By Ricky Keeler

May 4, 2016; Kansas City, MO, USA; Washington Nationals second basemen Daniel Murphy (20) singles in two runs against the Kansas City Royals during the first inning at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Peter G. Aiken-USA TODAY Sports
May 4, 2016; Kansas City, MO, USA; Washington Nationals second basemen Daniel Murphy (20) singles in two runs against the Kansas City Royals during the first inning at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Peter G. Aiken-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Washington Nationals scored six runs in the first inning and Daniel Murphy had four hits in a 13-2 win

After a tough loss last night, the Washington Nationals (19-8) were able to get ahead early and did not look back against the Kansas City Royals (14-13). Against starter Kris Medlen, the Nats scored six runs in the first inning and five without getting an out as they rolled to a 13-2 win and improved to 5-1 on this current ten game road trip.

The first inning started with back-to-back errors by the Royals’ defense (made three errors in the first). Then, Bryce Harper drove in Michael Taylor with a base hit to center. That was followed by three straight RBI doubles by Ryan Zimmerman, Daniel Murphy, and Jayson Werth, to put the Nats up 5-0 before one out was recorded. Two batters later, a Clint Robinson sacrifice fly put Washington ahead 6-0.

Today, it was Stephen Strasburg on the mound for the Nats and the only two runs he gave up came in the bottom of the second. With two outs, catcher Drew Butera drove in Omar Infante with a double to left field. Then, Alcides Escobar would hit a base hit to center, which Butera ended up scoring on after Wilson Ramos dropped the throw home from Taylor.

Despite that second inning, Strasburg put up another quality outing to remain undefeated on the season. He went six innings, gave up two runs on five hits, struck out seven, and walked one on 95 pitches (65 strikes) to pick up his fifth win of the season.

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The offense would continue the scoring in the third inning against Danny Duffy. With the bases loaded, Ramos and Robinson had back-to-back singles and Danny Espinosa drove in a run via a sacrifice fly to center. Robinson went 2-for-3 with three RBI’s in his return to Kansas City.

One inning later, with the Washington Nationals up 10-2, Murphy kept his great day going with a solo home run to right off his former teammate, Dillon Gee. In addition to hitting his fourth home run of the season, the Nats’ second baseman went 4-for-5 with three RBI’s and four runs scored and his batting average is now at .398.

After going eight straight games without a home run, Bryce Harper hit his tenth home run of the season when he hit a solo shot to right in the top of the fifth to put the team up 12-2.

All in all, the offense had four hitters with multi-hit games, including 3-for-5 days by Zimmerman and Ramos. Once Strasburg’s day was done, Yusmeiro Petit and Blake Treinen pitched the final three innings and did not give up one hit while combining to strike out four and walk one.

Next: Three Takeaways From 7-6 Loss To Royals

Next Game: The Washington Nationals will be at Wrigley Field tomorrow night to begin a four game series against the team with the best record in all of baseball, the Chicago Cubs (20-6). You can catch the game on MASN2 at 8:05 p.m ET. Joe Ross (3-0, 0.79 ERA) will get the start for the Nats against Kyle Hendricks for the Cubs (1-2, 3.52).

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