Washington Nationals: Top 5 games of 2017
By Drew Douglas
April 3 vs. Miami Marlins
Opening Day is always an exciting day for baseball, but that was especially true for the Nats this year. They had the pleasure of hosting the Miami Marlins at Nationals Park to begin the season, and they took full advantage of it.
Although you would expect Max Scherzer to get the nod on Opening Day, he was unavailable to pitch, leading to Stephen Strasburg starting the opener. This would be Strasburg’s first regular season start while pitching exclusively from the stretch, and he did not disappoint.
The Marlins jumped to an early lead, plating two runs in the fourth inning, but Strasburg pitched an otherwise unblemished game. However, with the Nats trailing 2-1 in the seventh, he was in line for a loss.
Then, things changed in a hurry. Jayson Werth and Stephen Drew were quickly retired to begin the inning, but Matt Wieters extended the inning with a two-out single up the middle.
With Strasburg’s spot in the lineup due up and two outs, Dusty Baker called upon Adam Lind to make his Nationals debut.
An extra-base hit would allow Wieters to score from first and take Strasburg off the hook, and Lind delivered. After getting ahead in the count 2-0, Lind crushed a go-ahead homer into right-center field on his first swing as a National.
Sammy Solis held things down in the eighth, and recently-appointed closer Blake Treinen dominated with two strikeouts in his first save opportunity, putting the finishing touches on a 4-2 Nats win.
All wins are important, but it was nice for the Nats to get their first one out of the way on Opening Day.