Washington Nationals: Takeaways From 1-0 Loss To Brewers

Guerra Dominates Nats Lineup

For the second consecutive start, Junior Guerra was able to give up only two hits to an opponent. On the afternoon, he went 7.1 innings, struck out seven, and walked two on 109 pitches (60 strikes) to record his sixth win of the year.

Over his last three starts, Guerra is 3-0 and has 22 strikeouts in 22.1 innings. Yesterday, only three Washington Nationals reached second base. Those two batters were Jayson Werth (singled and went to second on a Ryan Braun error in the sixth), Bryce Harper (intentionally walked and went to second on a wild pitch in the sixth), and Wilson Ramos (walked and went to second on a Danny Espinosa single in the second).

The best chance that the Washington Nationals had to score was in the sixth inning. With Werth on second and two outs, the Brewers walked Harper on four pitches.

Even though Harper is starting to hit, I was surprised by that decision because Ramos has been one of the Nats’ best hitters all season long. In the end, Guerra got the job done as he struck out Ramos with a splitter in the dirt to get out of the jam.

It was somewhat of an odd game by Guerra because he only threw nine first pitch strikes to the 26 batters that he faced. Nevertheless, he found a way to get the big outs when he needed them and was able to throw off the Nats timing with his splitter. In the end, the Washington Nationals offense simply ran into a pitcher who is on a good run right now.

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