Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Instant analysis: Nats 11, Cubs 6

USA Today Sports Images
Game in a nutshell: The Nationals jumped out to an early 6-1 lead behind another homer from Jayson Werth and a two-run single from Kurt Suzuki. But Ross Ohlendorf and Tanner Roark gave the entire lead back in the bottom of the fifth amid a flurry of base hits. Roark, an Illinois native pitching in front of more than 100 friends and family in the right-field bleachers, did bounce back by striking out the side in the sixth and that actually left him in line for his third win in two weeks when Scott Hairston launched a three-run homer in the top of the seventh, putting the Nationals back on top. Denard Span and Ryan Zimmerman added two more insurance runs in the eighth, and that was more than enough cushion for Tyler Clippard and Rafael Soriano to close this one out and give the Nationals their second straight victory at Wrigley Field.

Hitting highlight: There were plenty of offensive highlights tonight, but let's focus on the guy who gave the Nationals the lead for good. Hairston's three-run homer off James Russell broke a 6-6 tie and also continued the veteran's impressive stint with the Nationals. Acquired from the Cubs in July to get hits off left-handed pitchers, Hairston has done exactly what his new club hoped. He's now batting .297 with four doubles, a homer and a .519 slugging percentage against lefties. Hairston hasn't gotten a whole lot of opportunities, but he's certainly made the most of the ones he has received.

Pitching highlight: His final line (four runs, six hits in 4 1/3 innings) didn't look great, but Ohlendorf pitched fairly well in his first start back from the DL. He made two mistakes, both of them resulting in home runs by Anthony Rizzo. In between, though, the right-hander tossed three scoreless innings. Most importantly, Ohlendorf's velocity was up. After throwing only 90 mph in his final rehab start, he dialed it back up to 94-95 mph tonight. That was the most encouraging sign for the veteran, who some worried might still not be 100 percent healthy.

Key stat: Werth is now hitting .331 with a .410 on-base percentage and .940 OPS. All of those stats are better than Werth posted in any previous season of his career.

Up next: This four-game series wraps up with a day game at long last. Stephen Strasburg, coming off the first ejection of his career, starts against left-hander Travis Wood at 2:20 p.m. EDT.

16 comments:

David Proctor said...

Nobody will want to hear it (understandable, given the long balls he's given up), but Soriano really wasn't bad that inning. Two of those hits were on good pitches that were just blooped in.

terpman33 said...

Nice win by my Nats, but Sorry-ano can't be trusted. This may sound mean, but I would've loved to see what would have happened with the bases loaded. My money is that he would've given up a 2 run double, followed by 2 more hits to tie the game. Even if by a miracle we make the playoffs, what confidence do we have that he can close a 1 run game. Anyway, 37 games left. Lets see if we can pull it off. GYFNG!

David Proctor said...

Per Mark:

"Acquired from the Cubs in July to get hits off left-handed pitchers, Hairston has done exactly what his new club hoped. He's now batting .297 with four doubles, a homer and a .519 slugging percentage against lefties. Hairston hasn't gotten a whole lot of opportunities, but he's certainly made the most of the ones he ha received."

Just remember that guys. His overall numbers may be poor but that's because he's used against righties far too often.

SonnyG10 said...

Good to win tonight. Hope Stras is on his game tomorrow. Be really nice to take 3 out of 4.

SonnyG10 said...

Just remember that guys. His overall numbers may be poor but that's because he's used against righties far too often.

Yes sir, David!

Doc said...

Soriano just isn't a swing and miss pitcher like he used to be--even less of one than he has been the last few years.

At this point, either Clip or Storen are better
closer talent than Soriano.

Good to see CStam's hard slider back in action.

Davey's sarcasm directed to the team hitters on "Junkies' must be working. The guys 'scored' tonight!!!!!

Manassas Nats' Fan said...

The slider abd cutter were both better.

But sure takes a lot of pitches.

Manassas Nats' Fan said...

Need to win them all to match last year.

Manassas Nats' Fan said...

He can be a good against lefties next year.

Manassas Nats' Fan said...

Suppose to have a front coming with possible rain. Normally when it rains there the wind blows in.

David Proctor said...

Washington Nationals ‏@Nationals 1m
Anthony Rendon interviewed Scott Hairston in the media huddle, using a water bottle for a microphone

Charles said...

You know, it seems that there have been a lot more higher run games by the Nats since they got rid of Eckstein.

Doc said...

Not sure about that stat re: Eckstein. Show me and I'll believe it.

Again, and again, and to reiterate---it's not the coach, it's the hitters. Davey said in an interview that 'they're slow on the learning curve'. Shu was the hitting coach on Monday when they lost 11-1.

Shu was also the coach in Atlanta when they were 1-13 with runners in scoring postion.

Charles said...

Kind of, sort of.

28 games without RE - 4.28 runs/game.

Previous 28 games - almost the exact same.

Previous 28 games before that - 3.32 runs/game.

Secret wasian man said...

Soriano still stinks.

natsfan1a said...

Nice to wake up to a happy game results email, particularly after my brief tune-ins last night. First click-over: Okay, looks like the Big Windup's velo has ticked back up. And the Nats are up by 5. Niice. But...this *is* Wrigley... Second click-over, just before bedtime: Let's see...Nats 6, Cubs 4, and Cubbies all over the bags. Oh, and a new starter on the mound. Huh? What happened. Oh, well. Time for bed. You're on your own, boys. Woke up this morning and checked the game results email. 11-6. Yeah, I figured they...wait...what? (rubs eyes and looks again) NATS 11, CUBS 6? Yeah, that's right. We had 'em right where we wanted them. Niiice. And I just might get to watch today's game in real time. Niice. Maybe I'll get Papa John's for dinner.

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