The Nats lost this game by the final score of 3-1 as the Nats offense could not figure out Matt Cain, and Gio Gonzalez was victimized by the defense behind him who made two errors leading to two runs on Gio’s ledger (one earned run).
The Nationals had their chances to tie the game or for a big inning, but Anthony Rendon made two baserunning gaffes on 2nd base as he held twice as he was deked once and stayed at 2nd base on a clear single, and then was thrown out at 3rd on a bloop that fell into leftfield. The second gaffe was really compounded because if Rendon was on 3rd base he would have scored on the Heisey bloop into leftfield.
The Nats managed to get four walks, three hits, and a painful hit-by-pitch on Zimmerman and a less painful HBP on Espinosa to give the Nationals nine baserunners on the day.
The Giants take advantage of the dimensions of their ballpark very well in their defensive positioning and how they pitch batters, and even for offense where even Madison Bumgarner got a pinch-hit double into the opposite field.
Gio adeptly worked out of trouble a few times in what should have been a Nats win if the defense made the routine plays, and if Rendon was able to get to 3rd base on Zimmerman’s single. Gio worked in a nice rhythm, and pitched well with six strong inning of work. Gio got his ERA down to 4.29.
Ryan Zimmerman was hit on the wrist in the 9th inning and was writhing in pain but stayed in the game. There are no details yet on the status of Zimmerman’s wrist at this time.
