Last night was the Daniel Murphy show and everyone else was just part of his supporting cast unless you ask Murphy himself who deflects all praise to others.
Tanner Roark pitched well and kept the game close and earned the win in his 7 innings of work, but this game was all about Daniel ‘Hits’ Murphy who got 3 huge hits and 3 RBIs in key spots in the game and tallied the game-winning RBIs in the 8th inning. Jayson Werth got a key game tying RBI single and scored the game-winning run on the Murphy single with a great hustle play to beat the tag at home.
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Daniel Murphy’s 3 hits raised his batting average to .395 and Murphy ended up a triple shy of hitting for the ‘cycle’ as he got the double, the solo home run, then the huge 2 RBI single with bases loaded in his last at-bat in the 8th inning.
After the game the humble Daniel Murphy only wanted to talk about the great pitching of Roark and the clutch game tying single by Werth, but Murphy’s teammates sure did some bragging for him. Bryce Harper said, “[Murphy] is carrying our team. He’s doing everything possible in our lineup to keep us going. . . . And the biggest thing I see with him is he stays with his approach, stays with his routine every single day. That’s the impressive part.” Tanner Roark simply talked about Murphy, “He’s on fire!”
Felipe Rivero got a Hold (11th) and Jonathan Papelbon got a dramatic 14th save of the year after he gave up back-to-back doubles to start the 9th inning as the score went from 4-2 to 4-3 with no outs after the 2nd double. Papelbon then struck out the next 2 batters before getting a game ending soft liner that was hit right at Daniel Murphy to end the game.
Honorable mention to Ben Revere who had one of the best defensive Web Gems of the season for the Nationals as he sprinted 100 feet and then went down in a slide into the scoreboard in right-CF to make a spectacular catch saving a sure double. Revere got featured on StatCast for the catch. Danny Espinosa worked a walk and then stole 2nd base in the 8th inning and scored the tying run on Jayson Werth’s single.
WSH@PHI: Revere robs Howard of extra bases https://t.co/jQkUJmotMa via @mlb
— Talk Nats (@TalkNats) May 31, 2016
Bryce Harper got drilled on the outside of his right knee on a hit-by-pitch from starter Jeremy Hellickson, and before Bryce exited the game, he remained in to try to run the bases and was ‘doubled’ off 1st base on an outfield catch in the 7th inning where the Nats were trailing 2-1 at the time and Bryce represented the tying run.
After Bryce was thrown out at 1st base on a great throw from the outfield, the next batter was Ryan Zimmerman who tripled which made that doubleplay even larger in the scope of the game at the time as the 7th inning ended with the Nats trailing 2-1. More will be known tomorrow on Bryce Harper’s right knee as they see how it feels as it hit him on the outside of the knee, and Bryce said after the game that it felt numb. Harper was hit near the same spot in the last weekend of the 2015 season by Noah Syndergaard.
On his baserunning, Bryce said, “I think sliding back into first base on that double play just probably wouldn’t have helped us at all in that situation. It probably wasn’t a good idea for me to slide back into first right there.” The right move in hindsight was to remove Bryce immediately for a pinch-runner who could also play rightfield in the bottom of that inning as it turned out Chris Heisey ended up replacing Bryce anyway after the top of the 7th inning ended.
The Nats only managed 5 hits on the night, and they were all impactful as were the 3 walks the Nats accumulated all in the 8th inning against the Phillies top set-up man Hector Neris.
Here was the outside the zone pitch that Daniel Murphy pulled between the 2nd baseman and the 1st baseman. Not sure how he was able to do that and hit it so hard as he had to catch the ball out in front of the plate. Generally Murphy goes opposite field with those pitches like he did in the 2nd inning for a double.
This:
Daniel "Hits" Murphy went 3-4 with 3 RBIs that included the game-winner!https://t.co/ZonPuWJQiL
— Talk Nats (@TalkNats) May 31, 2016
