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Nationals: Taylor’s Big Day Not Enough In Loss To Padres

By Ricky Keeler

Jun 19, 2016; San Diego, CA, USA; Washington Nationals center fielder Michael Taylor (3) rounds the bases after hitting a solo home run during the first inning against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports
Jun 19, 2016; San Diego, CA, USA; Washington Nationals center fielder Michael Taylor (3) rounds the bases after hitting a solo home run during the first inning against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports /
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Despite Michael Taylor going 4-for-4 with two home runs, the Washington Nationals lost the series finale to the San Diego Padres.

This afternoon, the Washington Nationals were going for the series win at PETCO Park against the San Diego Padres. Even though Michael Taylor had one of the best games of his career, the Nats got another sub-par performance from Gio Gonzalez as San Diego won the game 6-3 and took the final two games of the series.

Taylor’s great day began on the first pitch of the game when he hit a solo home run to left against Drew Pomeranz. The Nationals had a chance for more runs in the first, but Ryan Zimmerman grounded into an inning-ending double play.

San Diego got that run back in the bottom of the first against Gonzalez. With Wil Myers on second and two outs, Yangervis Solarte drove Myers in with a base hit to left to tie the game.

The scoring would continue for the Padres three innings later. Melvin Upton Jr. and Derek Norris began the inning with back-to-back singles. Two batters later, Adam Rosales doubled to the wall in center to drive in Upton Jr. and Norris and give San Diego a 3-1 lead.

Washington’s offense would bounce back in the top of the fifth with a pair of home runs. Danny Espinosa began the inning with a solo home run to center field, his 12th of the season. Later in the inning, Taylor hit another solo home run to left, his sixth of the season, to tie the game at three.

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Unfortunately, Gonzalez allowed San Diego to take the lead again in the bottom of the inning. After a walk and a Gonzalez error, Norris hit a sacrifice fly to center that allowed Solarte to score. Then, Alexei Ramirez extended the lead to 5-3 with a single to center.

One inning later, Gonzalez gave up a single to Ryan Schimpf before being taken out of the game. Matt Belisle would come in out of the bullpen and he gave up a base hit to Matt Kemp that allowed Schimpf to score for the Padres’ sixth run of the day.

Gonzalez went 5.1 innings, gave up six runs (five earned runs) on eight hits, struck out three, and walked four on 111 pitches (65 strikes) in the loss. The Washington Nationals left-hander is now 0-5 in his last six starts and has not won a game since May 18.

As for Pomeranz, he went six innings, gave up three runs on six hits, struck out seven, and walked one on 85 pitches (55 strikes) in the win for San Diego.

Other than Taylor, the rest of the Washington Nationals offense managed only three hits today that weren’t off the bat of Taylor. During the top of the sixth, Daniel Murphy hit a ball to center and was robbed by Travis Jankowski of at least extra bases. Jankowski was in the game for Jon Jay, who had left the game with a forearm injury.

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Prediction: The Washington Nationals (43-27) will begin a three game series tomorrow night against the Los Angeles Dodgers (38-33) at Dodger Stadium. You can catch the game on MASN2 and ESPN at 10:10 p.m ET. It is an excellent pitching matchup on paper as Stephen Strasburg (10-0, 2.90 ERA) puts his unbeaten streak on the line against Clayton Kershaw (10-1, 1.58).

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