For the first-time this season, the Washington Nationals improved to 31 games above .500 with this 3-game sweep of the Miami Marlins posting a final score of 8-to-1. Gio Gonzalez didn’t make it easy on himself as he labored through 5.0 innings giving up no runs while throwing 101 pitches and working some magic to get out of a bases loaded jam with no outs and then the next inning he had men on 2nd and 1st base with no outs and worked out of that situation!
The Nationals scored 2-runs in the 1st inning as Trea Turner started off the game with a single and scored quickly. The Nationals had 3 baserunners thrown out in the first two innings of the game or else the score could have been much higher. The Nats got a nice ambush oppo home run from Ryan Zimmerman in a 3-0 count for the first hit of his career in a 3-0 count. Michael Taylor also added a home run. The Nationals tallied 12 hits and 4 walks in the game with hits from all positional starters except Jayson Werth. A few Nats padded their stats as Trea Turner had 2 hits and a walk, Anthony Rendon had 2 hits, and Michael Taylor had 2 hits.
Ryan Zimmerman’s home run was his 31st of the 2017 season matching his combined home run totals of the previous two seasons. If Zimmerman can hit another 5 home runs this season, he will match his home run total of the previous 3 years of 36.
RBI Updates: Ryan Zimmerman (93), Anthony Rendon (91), Daniel Murphy (88), Bryce Harper (87). ⚾️👍 pic.twitter.com/q2gbxfxDxt
— Talk Nats (@TalkNats) September 7, 2017
In this sweep of the Marlins, the Nationals knocked 6 digits off of that Magic # which is now at 6. It almost assures the Nats will clinch in the upcoming homestand.
The Nationals defense tonight was crisp, and the Nationals turned some nice defense for their pitchers.
After Gio Gonzalez completed his outing, he officially moved ahead of Corey Kluber into 3rd place in the Majors’ ERA leaderboard with a 2.50 mark trailing only Clayton Kershaw and Gio’s teammate Max Scherzer.
“Gio was effectively wild today,” Dusty Baker said. “He was Houdini. He got out of some trouble with some big hitters up there. He made some pitches when he had to. This was a very good series here in Miami.”
Dusty Baker admitted that Jayson Werth’s shoulder was “barking” from a HBP he took in his Minor League rehab assignment.
