Washington Nationals Reactions: Ryan Zimmerman Continues To Be Mr. Clutch In DC

May 19, 2015; Washington, DC, USA; Washington Nationals first baseman Ryan Zimmerman (11) hits a two run home run to beat the New York Yankees 8-6 in the tenth inning at Nationals Park. Mandatory Credit: Evan Habeeb-USA TODAY Sports

The first game of the two game series last night between the Washington Nationals and the New York Yankees brought about some great drama at Nats Park. The Nats were down 6-2 going into the bottom of the fifth inning against a pitcher in Nathan Eovaldi that had been cruising since giving up solo home runs to Ian Desmond and Bryce Harper in the bottom of the first. However, the Nats continued to show their grit as they stringed together hits in that fifth inning to get back in the game and ultimately win it in the tenth on a walk-off by first baseman Ryan Zimmerman.

With the win last night, the Nationals have won four straight games and have won 16 of their last 20, dating back to April 28. Plus, they are now tied with the New York Mets for first place in the NL East after being eight games behind the Mets on April 27. Before I get into my main takeaways on this game, I want to throw out a couple honorable mentions.

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First, Wilson Ramos showed some power in the bottom of the sixth inning against former Brave David Carpenter. Ramos, who was 0-for-7 against Carpenter coming into that at-bat, took a 3-0 pitch over the bullpen in left field for a game-tying home run in the bottom of the sixth inning to extend his hit streak to 19 games. He is now hitting .367 in the month of May.

Second, Wilmer Difo made his major league debut and the 23-year old did not disappoint. He singled to lead off the seventh inning on the second pitch he saw. It was a good situation for Williams to use him in because if he got on base, the Nats can use his speed with Denard Span at the plate. Difo would attempt to steal, but Span grounded out to Mark Teixeira on that pitch. Nevertheless, it was a great debut for Difo.

Finally, even though Harper did hit his 15^th home run of the season and drew a walk, Joe Girardi went to three different lefties, including Harper’s college teammate, Chasen Shreve, late in the game and all three were successful. Harper grounded into a double play in the fifth against Justin Wilson and struck out against Shreve and Andrew Miller. The at-bat against Shreve in the seventh was most notable because the former Brave did not throw him one fastball in that pitch sequence.

Now, here are my main takeways from last night’s ten inning win:

Next: Rough Night for Gio

May 19, 2015; Washington, DC, USA; Washington Nationals pitcher Gio Gonzalez (47) throws a pitch in the second inning against the New York Yankees at Nationals Park. Mandatory Credit: Evan Habeeb-USA TODAY Sports

 Gio Gonzalez Continues His Inconsistency

For the first three innings, the Nats lefty was doing his best Doug Fister impression. He got the first nine Yankees hitters out and eight of them were via ground ball outs. The only non ground ball in that stretch was a line out by Chase Headley in the second inning that went right back to him. Then, in the fourth inning, Gio became unglued.

It started when he walked Jacoby Ellsbury on five pitches and could not find the plate. Two batters later, Chris Young got the Yankees on the board with a RBI single to center. Then, after Mark Teixiera walked on four pitches, you could sense that Gonzalez was starting to unravel.

He had three chances with two outs to get out of the inning, but then gave up a double to Chase Headley, an infield single to Jose Pirela, and a two-run single to Stephen Drew that gave New York a 4-2 lead. Once again, Gonzalez was not able to get out of a key situation.

In his last ten innings, he has given up 11 runs on 15 hits and has had as many walks as he has strikeouts (four). With Fister out, the Nationals need guys like Stephen Strasburg and Gonzalez to elevate their games and try to match Scherzer and Zimmermann. In addition, it does not help that he is averaging about 87 pitches per game.

Even though he got the no decision, that start was disappointing from a veteran like Gonzalez, especially when you consider how strong he looked in the first three innings of the game.

Next: Nats Begin Comeback In 5th

May 19, 2015; Washington, DC, USA; Washington Nationals second baseman Danny Espinosa (8) catches a pop up against the New York Yankees in the ninth inning at Nationals Park. Mandatory Credit: Evan Habeeb-USA TODAY Sports

5^th Inning Comeback Sparks Nats

While Washington did not tie the game in the bottom of the fifth, they did a great job of preventing Yankee starter Nathan Eovaldi from staying in his groove and forcing him to throw bad pitches.

The inning started when Danny Espinosa was able to work a nine pitch at-bat that ultimately ended in a walk after four straight foul balls. Two batters later, Williams brought in a power hitter in Clint Robinson to pinch hit to try to cut the lead in half. While Robinson didn’t get that elusive first home run, he did get the scoring started with a RBI double over the head of Carlos Beltran in right field.

Eovaldi was behind 3-1 on Robinson and had trouble finding the plate in that inning. After that double, he went back to his fastball, which he can throw in the late 90’s, but teams are able to hit it and hit it hard. The next three hitters (Span, Ian Desmond, and Yunel Escobar) saw a grand total of five pitches, four of which were fastballs. All three turned those fastballs into RBI singles.

While Bryce Harper would ground into a double play against Wilson to end the inning, that was a crucial inning for the Nationals because of how strong the Yankees bullpen is at the end of games.

With Dellin Betances and Andrew Miller likely to come in during the eighth and ninth innings respectively, it makes other teams have to have more urgency in the middle innings because of the way the Yanks can shorten the game. In that spot, a one run deficit is a lot easier to come back from than four runs. That set the stage for the Nats middle relief.

Next: Bullpen Gets The Job Done

May 19, 2015; Washington, DC, USA; New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez (13) reacts after striking out in the ninth inning against the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park. Mandatory Credit: Evan Habeeb-USA TODAY Sports

Nats Bullpen Had The Edge

Once Gonzalez and Eovaldi were both out of the game, it became a battle of the bullpens. Coming into this series, you had to give the Yankees the edge because of the way Betances and Miller have been pitching. However, tonight, it was the Nats bullpen that was able to get the job done in the final five innings of the game.

The combination of Blake Treinen, Matt Thornton, Aaron Barrett, Drew Storen, and Matt Grace gave up two hits, struck out five, and walked one without giving up a single run.

First, it was Treinen who started it off. While he has not looked good in the eighth inning this year, he has done much better as of late. He ha only given up one earned run in his last five appearances and struck out 11 hitters. Six of those strikeouts came against San Diego when he relieved Fister last Friday. Tonight, he dominated the zone, throwing 17 of his 18 pitches for strikes.

After Matt Thornton and Aaron Barrett held the fort in the eighth, Drew Storen came on in the ninth inning to keep the game tied. Storen is off to a good start in 2015. He has 11 saves in 12 chances and a 1.10 ERA. The best at-bat of the night for Storen came against Alex Rodriguez. He struck out A-Rod on five pitches by throwing him four straight sliders before getting him looking at a 94 mile per hour fastball.

As for Matt Grace, he had two strikeouts in the tenth as he worked around a one out walk of Chris Young. He did get some help from Span, who made a ridiculous diving catch in center field to takeaway a leadoff triple from Brett Gardner.

As for New York’s bullpen, Miller gave up his first earned runs in the tenth, but it was Carpenter who gave up the tying home run to Ramos. The Yankees have the better “closers”, but the Nats definitely have the edge when it comes to the rest of the bullpen cast.

Next: Zimmerman Does It Again