Ryan Zimmerman at Wrigley Field by NavyYardNats for TalkNats
We should be celebrating a great Nationals win and instead a loss you won’t forget about for a long long time. The Nationals took a 3-0 lead into the bottom of the 9th inning and 4 runs scored on a pinch-hit walk-off grand slam by David Bote in a 2-strike count with 2 outs. A Max Scherzer gem was wasted as he exited at the end of the 7th inning with a 1-0 lead, and the Nats ran that lead up to 3-0 which should have been enough. A walk-off pinch-hit grand slam home run down by 3 runs with 2 outs is so rare you have to go back 39 years to Roger Freed. A similar feat was also acheived by Allen Trammel in 1988, however he wasn’t a pinch-hitter.
Manager Dave Martinez brought in his best defense in the 9th inning and with 1-out Wilmer Difo booted a ball giving an opening to the Cubs. Somehow it was ruled a hit. Hometown official scoring. Ryan Madson was in to close the game and hit two batters to load the bases and the rest is history as David Bote smashed a strike at the bottom of the zone which was a decent pitch and he got under it and drove it into the batter’s eye in centerfield for the walk-off grand slam.
Max Scherzer and Cole Hamels were locked in a pitcher’s duel as Hamels had a one-hitter and Scherzer had a three-hitter. The Nationals scored a run on a Zimmerman walk followed by a Murphy single that Zim took 3rd base on followed by a Mark Reynolds sacrifice fly. In the 9th inning, the Nationals got going with a Trea Turner hustle triple followed by a Juan Soto walk and an intentional walk to load the bases. All of this came off of Brandon Kintzler who then gave up a groundball single to Ryan Zimmerman for the 3-0 lead.
Said he couldn’t grip the ball well tonight either, hence the curve that slipped at Contreras. Knew he only had fastball really and wasn’t confident in his command. Felt the back pain warming up, though has dealt with it off and on for awhile. https://t.co/ZCdQLecJS5
— Chelsea Janes (@chelsea_janes) August 13, 2018
With this one run loss, the Nationals move to 11-20 for their record which is a .355 winning percentage. Finding new ways to lose.
