Washington Nationals Recap: Daniel Murphy The Hero In 10-Inning Win Over Braves

On Opening Day, Daniel Murphy capped his Nats debut with a game-winning double in the top of the 10^th

The 2016 season got underway for the Washington Nationals today as they took on the Atlanta Braves at Turner Field. There were many new faces for the Nationals, but one player stood out among the rest. Former Met and new second baseman Daniel Murphy went 2-for-3 with a home run and game-winning double in the top of the tenth as the Nats won 4-3 in a game where they had to rally in the ninth to tie it.

The Nationals got the scoring underway in the top of the first against Julio Teheran. After Anthony Rendon was picked off at first base for the second out, Bryce Harper hit a 2-2 slider over the wall in right for a solo home run to put the Nats up 1-0. The reigning NL MVP went 1-for-2 today with two walks.

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However, the Braves would get that run back in the bottom of the first with a home run of their own. Freddie Freeman, who has dominated the Nats in his career, hit a 2-2 fastball to center field for a solo home run, which tied the game at one.

Both teams exchanged home runs again in the fourth inning. Daniel Murphy crushed his first home run as a National to dead center to lead off the inning. In the bottom of the inning, Adonis Garcia took advantage of a hanging slider and tied the game at two with a solo home run to left center.

During that inning, Ben Revere was taken out of the game as Michael Taylor took over in the center field. After the game, Dusty Baker talked about the Revere injury:

As for Max Scherzer, he had a good opening outing to his 2016 season. The Nats’ ace went seven innings, gave up two runs on three hits, struck out seven, and walked two on 104 pitches (72 strikes) in the no-decision.

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Scherzer pitched well, but the Nationals weren’t able to help him out with much run support. The Nats did not do much other than the home runs by Harper and Murphy against Teheran. The Braves’ right-hander went six innings, gave up two runs on five hits, struck out four, and walked three on 102 pitches (63 strikes) in a no-decision.

After Scherzer left the game, Felipe Rivero came in to start the bottom of the eighth. With one out, Jeff Francoeur drew a walk and Ender Inciarte singled to left. After Erick Aybar popped out to second, Rivero hit Freeman to load the bases.

Baker would go to Shawn Kelley to face Garcia, but he was wild and walked him on four pitches to give Atlanta the lead. Then, Oliver Perez came in and struck out Nick Markakis to keep the deficit at one run.

Jason Grilli came in to try to close it out for the Braves in the ninth, but the Nats mounted a rally. Jayson Werth drew a four-pitch walk, Wilson Ramos singled to right, and Danny Espinosa had a bunt single to load the bases. After Stephen Drew struck out, Taylor flew out to center, but Werth tagged up and scored as the throw got away from Pierzynski.

The game would end up going to extra innings. With one out, Ryan Zimmerman hit a groundball to second that Gordon Beckham threw away. Zimmerman went to second on the throw. Then, Murphy hit a double down the left field line against Eric O’Flaherty to ultimately give the Nats the win.

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Jonathan Papelbon would come in to pitch the bottom of the tenth and retire the Braves in order to pick up the save. Blake Treinen pitched a scoreless bottom of the ninth to pick up the win. Treinen gave up a leadoff single, but he got Pierzynski to ground into a 6-3 double play on a great play by Espinosa to get out of trouble.

Next Game: The Washington Nationals (1-0) will be back in action Wednesday night when they take on the Atlanta Braves (0-1) at Turner Field. You can watch the game on MASN at 7:10 p.m. ET. Stephen Strasburg will start for the Nats against Bud Norris for Atlanta.