The Nationals started off their ten game road trip tonight with a 8-5 victory over the San Diego Padres.
It was a good start to the ten game road trip for the Nationals as they began their four game series against the San Diego Padres with a 8-5 win. Even though Tanner Roark didn’t have a great outing, he got some help from his offense, including Bryce Harper, who had a home run and three RBI’s.
At the beginning of the game, it was the Padres who scored first against Roark. After the first two runners reached base, Matt Kemp drove in Travis Jankowski with a base hit to center. San Diego added its second run of the inning two batters later on a RBI single by Melvin Upton Jr.
One inning later, the Nationals would get on the scoreboard against Erik Johnson. Wilson Ramos and Clint Robinson began the inning with back-to-back singles. Ramos would end up scoring two batters later on a sacrifice fly by Stephen Drew.
Harper would pick up his first RBI’s of the game in the third. Jayson Werth kept the inning going with a two-out single. Then, Harper crushed a two-run homer to left to put the Washington Nationals in front, 3-2. It was Harper’s 14th home run of the season and his first since May 28. Ramos would follow that up with a solo home run to right (his 11th of the year) to double the Nationals lead to 4-2.
In the bottom of the fifth, the Padres got a run back when Wil Myers hit a solo home run to left for his 15th home run of the season.
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However, the Nats got the lead back up to two runs in the following inning when Anthony Rendon hit a solo home run to left center for his seventh of the season. As for Johnson, he went six innings, gave up five runs on seven hits, struck out two, and walked two on 115 pitches in the loss.
With the score 5-3, the Padres scored their final run against Roark in the bottom of the sixth on a RBI groundout by Christian Bethancourt. Despite an average night by Roark, he still was able to get the win. The right-hander went six innings, gave up four runs on seven hits, struck out five, and walked two on 104 pitches in the win.
After the Washington Nationals got Johnson out of the game, they loaded the bases in the seventh against Brad Hand. Then, Robinson added a much needed insurance run with a sacrifice fly to center that drove in Ben Revere.
The Nationals would double their lead to 8-4 in the top of the ninth. With runners on the corners, Bethancourt threw the ball away on a pickoff attempt to third that allowed Revere to score. Harper would also drive in Werth during that at-bat with a base hit to center.
San Diego would make it interesting in the bottom of the ninth. Once Felipe Rivero gave up two hits, Shawn Kelley came in to try to get the save. Even though Kemp drove in a run with a sacrifice fly to center, Kelley got Yangervis Solarte to ground out to second to end the game and record his second save of the year.
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Next Game: The Washington Nationals (42-25) will be back in action later today against the San Diego Padres (27-41) at PETCO Park. You can catch the game at 10:40 p.m ET on MASN2. Joe Ross (5-4, 3.01 ERA) will start for the Nats against Christian Friedrich (3-1, 2.12) for the Padres.