The Nationals pitching staff combined for a shutout in the night-cap of this doubleheader against the Rockies. With this win, the Nationals put additional pressure on the Braves who were just swept by the Royals, and the Nats are 4.0 games back in the NL East. With this doubleheader sweep, the Nationals have won the first 3-games of this 4-game series. Patrick Corbin pitched a 6.0 inning shutout followed by the bullpen arms of Tanner Rainey, Tony Sipp, Fernando Rodney, and Sean Doolittle who maintained the shutout. Corbin only gave up 3-hits, and pushed his ERA down to 3.25 and went above the 150 strikeout milestone for the season.
The Nationals only had six hits, but as they say it is how you got those hits and Brian Dozier‘s double turned into the first run of the game after a Rockies’ error and Yan Gomes had another 2-hit game and added on an insurance run with a booming 425 foot home run.
What the Nationals did was play solid baseball in all facets of the game. That translated into a win. The only mistake was Eaton played a double into a triple, and Corbin made sure that run did not score. The Nats defense picked up Corbin who once again bent in the first inning, but did not break as he got a key doubleplay with two runners on-base and no outs.
“We got just enough runs to win the game,” manager Dave Martinez said. “What I love is that they are having fun.”
Both Rodney and Doolittle pitched in both ends of the doubleheader, and that is putting it on the line for their team. The bullpen got huge outs when they needed them.
“There’s something special going on in this clubhouse,” Corbin said.
This is the fourth consecutive doubleheader sweep for the team. With this win, the Nationals moved to a season high 9-games over .500 and a 36-15 streak since May 24th. The Nats still hold the top spot in the Wild Card but they have their eye on larger prizes.
