“The Firm” is back together, and while Sean Doolittle usually makes it interesting, he got the save (by a few feet) in a nice Nats win with a final score of 3-to-2. Max Scherzer was hit on the calf by a hard grounder in the first inning and stayed in the game for 5 innings and exited in a 1-1 game. It was an ambush home run by Michael Taylor and a Trea Turner RBI double off the centerfield wall that made the Nats a winner.
In the 4th inning, Ryan Zimmerman got an RBI single to put the Nationals up 1-to-0, and in the bottom of the 4th inning the Brewers tied it up. Scherzer was limping and in obvious pain and he exited after the 5th inning. Ollie Perez came in for the 6th inning and he was victimized by some poor fielding and an unearned run was charged on “Keystone Cops” type of play on a chopper over Zimmerman’s head which Daniel Murphy bobbled and it then got by Jayson Werth in rightfield to score the runner from first base.
Ryan Madson pitched the 7th inning and he looked great on his return from the disabled list. Brandon Kintzler got the 8th inning and got them 1-2-3, and Sean Doolittle got the first two batters in the 9th inning and then gave up a single with 2 outs. Pinch-hitter Manny Pina then sent a long flyball to the wall in centerfield, and Michael Taylor made a jumping catch to squeeze the last out.
The Nationals tonight clinched a winning record with their 82nd win of the season. With this win, the Magic # moves down to 13.
“Max got in his left calf,” Dusty Baker said. “It got tighter and tighter. We thought that was enough and turned it over to our bullpen.”
