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Nationals: Lopez Has Sour Debut In Loss To Dodgers

By Chris Lacey

Jul 19, 2016; Washington, DC, USA; Washington Nationals starting pitcher Reynaldo Lopez (49) throws against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the fourth inning at Nationals Park. Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports
Jul 19, 2016; Washington, DC, USA; Washington Nationals starting pitcher Reynaldo Lopez (49) throws against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the fourth inning at Nationals Park. Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports /
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In Reynaldo Lopez’s MLB Debut, the Washington Nationals lost the series opener to the Dodgers

The Washington Nationals dropped the series opener against the Los Angeles Dodgers 8-4, as Reynaldo Lopez didn’t have a great start to his MLB career. Lopez struggled in the early innings against a veteran lineup, which put the Nats in an early hole they couldn’t dig themselves out of.

Chase Utley led the game off with his sixth home run of the season to give the Dodgers an early 1-0 lead. Later in the first frame, Joc Pederson extended the lead to 3-0 with a two-out, two-run single.

Utley came through again in the second inning, as he laced an RBI single in the second inning to push the lead to 4-0. Three innings later, Adrian Gonzalez and Yasiel Puig each hit RBI singles to increase the lead to 6-0.

It was a mixed bag of results tonight for the 22-year-old right-hander. Lopez yielded six runs on ten hits in 4 2/3 innings with one walk and nine strikeouts on 105 pitches (65 strikes) in the loss.

There were some jitters for Lopez in the first two innings, but settled down when he used offspeed pitches in the innings that followed. The curveball for Lopez is a weapon and with better fastball command, he can be a solid starter for the Washington Nationals going forward.

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Matt Belisle was brought in the fifth inning with two outs and helped his team get out of a jam, by retiring Scott Kazmir to end a threat with the bases loaded.

Jose Lobaton belted his third home run of the season in the bottom of the fifth to drop the deficit to 6-1 and get the Washington Nationals on the board.

Oliver Perez relieved Belisle in the top of the seventh and tossed a scoreless inning. Utley had another RBI single in the eighth, and the lead was extended to 7-1. He finished the game with three hits and three RBI. Blake Treinen entered in the eighth and allowed one unearned run on a single by Utley.

As for Kazmir, he was impressive on the mound. The veteran southpaw tossed seven innings and yielded one run on four hits with eight strikeouts and didn’t issue a walk on 88 pitches (59 strikes) in his eighth win of the year.

Trea Turner injected some life into the Nationals lineup in the bottom of the eighth, by smoking a two-run triple to the gap, which trimmed the lead to 7-3. This was the first triple of his career. Later in the inning, Murphy missed a home run by mere inches but settled for his second double of the game (27th of the year) to decrease the deficit to 7-4.

Next: Nationals vs. Dodgers Series Preview (7/19-7/21)

But, in the following inning, Yasmani Grandal hit his 13th home run of the season with one out against Shawn Kelley. Kenley Jansen finished things off in the ninth in a non-save situation to preserve the victory for the Dodgers.

Next Game: Gio Gonzalez (5-8, 4.70 ERA) will start for the Washington Nationals (56-38) in the second game of the series, and the Los Angeles Dodgers (53-42) will send Bud Norris (5-7, 4.17 ERA) to the mound. You can watch the game at 7:05 p.m. ET on MASN.

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