Washington Nationals: Takeaways From 5-4 Loss To Tigers

 Even though Ryan Zimmerman bounced back with two home runs, the Washington Nationals comeback efforts fell short

Yesterday started off with the Washington Nationals officially signing Stephen Strasburg to that seven year contract extension worth $175 million. As the night went on, one of the Nats’ franchise position players, Ryan Zimmerman, bounced back in a big way with two home runs and three RBI’s.

However, the Washington Nationals did not have enough in the end as they fell to the Detroit Tigers by a final score of 5-4. In the end, the Nats had a difficult time keeping Victor Martinez off the bases as he went 4-for-5 with four singles. Plus, Nick Castellanos hit his second home run of the series.

Joe Ross was given the lead twice, but was unable to hold it both times. He went six innings, gave up five runs on eight hits, struck out four, and walked two on 97 pitches (61 strikes). Ross’ command was off at times on his sinker as he only threw 15 first pitch strikes to the 28 batters he faced and had two four-pitch walks.

The Nats had chances to win the game late, but Wilson Ramos was thrown out on a relay at the plate in the eighth and both Zimmerman and Daniel Murphy failed to pick up the clutch hits against Detroit’s closer, Francisco Rodriguez, in the ninth.

Before the highly anticipated matchup between Jordan Zimmermann and Max Scherzer tonight (7:05 p.m ET, MASN), here are my three takeaways from last night’s loss:

Next: Zimmerman Back On Track