The Nationals dropped this game to the Rockies by a final score of 10-6, and the game ended with a bases loaded doubleplay — or was it? The replay officials said it was a doubleplay which was the call on the field although replay showed Trevor Story was clearly off of 2nd base a split-second early. The score would have been 10-7 with 2 men-on-base and Adam Lind stepping into the batter’s box if the officials reversed the call on the field, but that is not how the official scoring would write the ending in the boxscore.
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The highlight of the game was the 238th home run of Ryan Zimmerman‘s career into the Nationals bullpen that tied the game at 4-4, and that is as close as the game was in Erick Fedde‘s MLB debut. That 238th home run by Zimmerman set the Washington baseball record for most home runs ever eclipsing Frank Howard‘s 237 D.C. based home runs. Zimmerman would add a booming home run later in the game and finish with 3 hits and 4 RBIs.
Erick Fedde’s day did not go well. He could only go 4 innings and gave up 7 runs of which 5 were earned. He showed 4 different pitches including 2 looks on his 2-seamer. He just couldn’t put away many of the batters in 2-strike counts.
Fedde threw exactly 75% of his pitches today with fastballs and only worked in 8% of his pitches with his breaking pitch (slider) which seemed an odd approach against a fastball hitting team. Hopefully this game will just be a learning experience for Fedde to improve upon.
Wilmer Difo had another incredible game going 3-for-5 with a home run and 2 singles. He is hitting .393 in the month of July (24-for-61). For those questioning the wisdom of batting Wilmer Difo second in this potent line-up, it appears to be working well. Difo is now batting .271 overall and his OPS is a respectable .716.
