Bryce Harper hit his first two two home runs of the spring, but the Nationals were defeated by the Tigers 7-6 in Lakeland, Florida this afternoon.
Last season, Bryce Harper displayed the power that had been expected of him since he entered the Major Leagues. Today in Lakeland, Florida against Justin Verlander and the Detroit Tigers, Harper showed his 2016 season might be even better than his 2015 MVP campaign.
In the top of the first inning after a Daniel Murphy single, Harper scorched a home run to deep right-center field off of Verlander giving Washington an early 2-0 lead. After Nationals’ starter Joe Ross held Detroit scoreless in the bottom of the first, he was forced to leave the game in the bottom of the second after being struck by a line drive single off of the bat of Tigers’ third baseman Nick Castellanos:
Joe Ross left today's game with a right heel contusion. He will be reevaluated tomorrow.
— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) March 20, 2016
Blake Treinen replaced Ross and retired Nate Schierholtz on a fly ball before getting Andrew Romine to ground into an inning-ending double play.
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The score remained 2-0 until the top of the fifth when Harper struck again, homering to deep center field to give the Nationals a 3-0 lead. Treinen kept Detroit scoreless through the bottom of the fifth, allowing only two hits and striking out two in his four innings of work.
Trouble struck for the Nats in the bottom of the sixth when relievers Matt Belisle and Felipe Rivero allowed Detroit to even the score at 3-3 on RBI hits by J.D. Martinez, Schierholtz and Romine.
In the top of the seventh, Trea Turner led off with a single and used his exceptional speed to steal second base. Two batters later, Michael A. Taylor hit a line drive single to left driving in Turner to give Washington a 4-3 lead.
The Nationals’ offense struck again in the top of the eighth inning when Clint Robinson blasted a towering home run, his third of the spring, to right field to put the Nats on top 5-3. Later in the inning, Jose Lobaton ripped a RBI single to center scoring Brendan Ryan to increase the lead to 6-3.
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Burke Badenhop was brought in to protect the lead in the bottom of the inning, but struggled mightily as he was unable to retire any of the four batters he faced. The veteran right-hander hit Christin Stewart to begin the inning and gave up a RBI double to Detroit’s Mike Gerber that pulled Detroit within two runs.
Jordany Valdespin continued the Detroit rally with a single to right, scoring Gerber to make the score 6-5. After walking Jason Krizan, Badenhop was replaced by veteran Aaron Laffey, After recording the first out of the inning, the left-hander gave up a go-ahead two-run double to Detroit’s Dominic Ficociello to make the score 7-6 in favor of the home-standing Tigers.
The Nationals were unable to mount a rally against young left-hander Kyle Ryan in the top of the ninth. giving Detroit the win and putting the Nats in the loser’s column for only the fourth time in 16 spring training games. Although the Nats could not pull out a win, the play of Harper and Treinen was a positive sign with Opening Day only two weeks away.
Next: Nats Re-Assign Martinson, Release Schafer
Next Game: The Washington Nationals will be back in action tomorrow afternoon when they take on the Houston Astros at Space Coast Stadium at 1:05 PM ET. Gio Gonzalez will take the ball for the Nats against Scott Feldman for the Astros.