The Nationals couldn’t support Edwin Jackson with anything more than 1-run. Also missing was good fundamental defense which led to the first Astros run to score. Edwin Jackson finished up 6-innings and completed his night with a 2-1 deficit. The bullpen did its job in the 7th inning with Matt Albers and Matt Grace, but in the 8th inning the wheels came off quickly with a home run off of Grace and a 3-run home run off of Shawn Kelley made the deficit 6-to-1 heading into the 9th inning.
The Nationals first run on the night was a combination of an Andrew Stevenson double, a Kendrick single, and a Wilmer Difo sacrifice fly. The Nationals bats didn’t piece together many more hits the rest of the evening. The Nationals only had 6-hits in the game with 2 by Howie Kendrick and 2 by Daniel Murphy and a hit from Ryan Zimmerman along with that Stevenson double.
This series is now tied at a game each with the decisive game tomorrow night.
