Washington Nationals Top 10 Games Of 2015: #10: Yunel Escobar Has 5 Hits In Win Over Marlins
By Ricky Keeler
Starting today, we are going to be bringing you our top ten games of the Washington Nationals 2015 season. We will be bringing you one game of that countdown each week and we start with number ten on our list. This game was played on May 4 at Nats Park when the Nats took on the Miami Marlins in the first game of a three game series. On that night, it was one of the Nats’ offseason acquisitions, Yunel Escobar that had a huge game, including the game winning hit in the eighth inning.
The night did not start out well for the Nats when Jordan Zimmermann gave up a one-out RBI single to Marcell Ozuna, which gave the Marlins a 1-0 lead. However, Zimmermann was able to get out of further trouble and he kept Miami’s offense off the board for the next five innings.
Washington’s offense would get one run back in the bottom of the first inning. After loading the bases with one out via singles from Escobar and Jayson Werth and a walk by Bryce Harper. Then, Ryan Zimmerman ended up driving Escobar in with a sacrifice fly to right, which tied the game at one.
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The game would remain tied until the seventh inning when Justin Bour hit a leadoff solo shot to left for his first career Major League home run. Miami had a 2-1 lead, but Zimmermann had a good game that night as he went seven innings, gave up two runs (one earned run) on six hits, struck out four, and walked none on 81 pitches (58 strikes).
While the Nats’ offense struggled for most of the night against Phelps, they did get runners on the corners with two outs. With Sam Dyson in the game for Phelps, Werth hit a 0-2 pitch into center for a game-tying base hit.
Miami would take the lead back in the top of the eighth against the Nats’ bullpen. Blake Treinen walked two of the four batters he faced before Williams handed the ball to left-hander Matt Grace. In the four batters Grace faced, he gave up two RBI singles, one to Jeff Baker and one to Ichiro Suzuki, which gave the Marlins a 4-2 lead.
The Nats would fight back in the bottom of the inning when Ian Desmond hit a game-tying two-run home run against Bryan Morris. It was Desmond’s second home run of the season. Then, after a pinch-hit single by Tyler Moore and a double by Denard Span, Escobar became the hero as his fifth hit of the night was a base hit to right that scored Moore and Span to put the Nats up 6-4. Escobar went 5-for-5 with two runs batted in during the win.
To add on to a good victory, Tanner Roark came into the game for the top of the ninth and struck out Giancarlo Stanton, who was the tying run, to end the game as Roark picked up the first save of his career.