The Nationals were in a rain delay for 3 hours and 1 minute, and on a wet track Bryce Harper’s foot slipped off of the 1st base bag as he legged out a possible infield hit and his leg buckled. Harper was helped off the field. Edwin Jackson gave up a run in the 1st inning and then threw 5 shutout innings after that as he worked in and out of trouble without any panic. With a 3-1 score in favor of the Nationals, it was time that Dusty Baker called on “The Firm” to close out the game which the combination of Brandon Kintzler, Ryan Madson and Sean Doolittle did.
“The Firm” improved to a combined 1.385 ERA, .885 WHIP 9 K/9, and with 8 Saves for Sean Doolittle. Both Kintzler and Madson were credited with “holds”.
The Nationals moved to a season’s best 24-games over .500 with a 69-45 record, and Dusty Baker with this win tied Bruce Bochy on the all-time managerial wins list.
Dusty Baker is calling Bryce Harper’s leg injury a hyper-extension right now. Harper will get an MRI tomorrow. Dusty urged everyone to pray for Harper.
“We just ask for prayers that it’s not serious,” Dusty Baker said. “We’re just urging everybody out there that are Nationals fans and baseball fans to say a prayer for him tonight because he was in obvious pain out there. We’re just hoping for the best.”
This game finished up after 1AM on Sunday morning in Washington D.C. and the Nationals have a doubleheader tomorrow less than 12 hours from now.
