Overview: Nats survived a sluggish outing from Gio Gonzalez (3 runs, 5 strikeouts and only 4 hits in 3 1/3 innings) but finished with 3 walks and needed 88 pitches to record a total of 10 outs, and the 3rd blown save from closer Rafael Soriano who gave up the tying run on a single by Rickie Weeks, but got out of the inning without any further damage due to Weeks getting caught stealing second and Ryan Braun ended the threat with a deep flyout to Denard Span in CF.
In the bottom half of the inning, after a Nate McClouth strikeout (pinch hitting for Soriano), Span, playing on his bobble head day singled, All Star snub Anthony Rendon reached on a force out, and scored the winning run on a Jayson Werth double to LF to give the Nats a 5-4 walk off win.
Nats got on the board first with a single by SS Ian Desmond, but had the inning flushed out after Brewers pitcher Yovanni Gallardo made a great snag on a come backer off the bat of catcher Jose Lobaton and doubled Bryce Harper off the bat. Brewers scored the next 3 runs; 2 in the top of the 3rd, 1 in the 4th and the Nats came back in the bottom half with 3 runs of their own in the bottom half of the 4th inning, and it stayed that way until the 9th.
What it means: The walk off victory gives the Nats an overall record of 53-43 (.552); percentage points over the Atlanta Braves (54-44; .551) for top spot in the National League East division, and as of this moment, the top spot in the NL, once again percentage points over the LA Dodgers (54-45; .545), San Francisco Giants (54-44; .551), St. Louis Cardinals (54-44; .551), Milwaukee Brewers (54-45; .545) and of course the Atlanta Braves. However, the winner of ESPN's Sunday night baseball game between the Cardinals & Dodgers will leapfrog the Nats for best record at the end of the night (assuming no rainout), so the Nationals will end the day with the NL's second best record and the 4th/5th best record in all of baseball at the end of the day (4th/5th depending on what the Baltimore Orioles do in their game vs. the Oakland A's).
Rally thwarted: After 3 singles in the second gave the Nats a 1-0 lead, they were looking to add more with only 1 out and runners on the corners. However, Jose Lobaton's comebacker was stabbed by Brewers pitcher Yovanni Gallardo, and he doubled up Bryce Harper at 3rd to end the threat and the inning.
That was weird: With Ryan Braun on second base and running on the pitch, Brewers catcher Jonathan Lucroy hit a come backer to Gio Gonzalez. Gonzalez lobbed the ball over to 1st, and Braun, never slowing down scored from second just ahead of Adam LaRoche's throw home.
Brewers aggressive base running: Brewers had 2 stolen bases on the afternoon, and took many extra bases. Brewers added to their lead with another aggressive baserunning in the 4th. With Jean Segura on 3rd, Carlos Gomez hit a grounder to Desmond who was playing in. Desmond made a good play and looked Segura back to 3rd, but Segura broke home as Desmond threw to first to get the out, and slid just ahead of the throw from LaRoche to give the Brewers an insurance run. However, the aggressive baserunning came back to haunt them in the 9th when it counted: after tying the game off of Soriano, the Brewers tried to pull off a double steal. Carlos Gomez was able to get to 3rd, but Weeks, the trailing runner was thrown out at second for the second out. That would loom large as 2 pitches later Braun would fly out ti deep center which would've easily scored Gomez to give the Brewers the lead had that only been the second out. However, it was the 3rd, and it ended the inning.
Nats rally back: After a walk to LaRoche, Ryan Zimmerman connected on a 2 run homer to right center to tie the score at 3 in the 4th. Later in the inning, Lobaton would motor home from 3rd on a wild pitch in another weird play as even though Gallardo was covering the plate, catcher Johnathan Lucroy didn't throw the ball to at least attempt the out on Lobaton.
3rd times the charm: This was only the 3rd save closer Rafael Soriano has blown this year. In the first 2 instances this year (May 10 @ Oakland & June 7 @ San Diego) the team lost the game. Nice of them to take him off the hook this time.
Game MVP: A lot of good choices here. We could have Ryan Zimmerman (2-4, 1 home run, 2 RBI's, 1 run scored), walk off hero Jayson Werth (2-5, 1 RBI, game-winning hit), or all star Tyler Clippard (20th hold of the season, struck out the side in the 8th on 19 pitches) but I'm going to give it long reliever Craig Stammen. Relieved an ineffective Gio Gonzalez and pitched a scoreless 2 and 2/3's innings allowing 0 hits, walking none and striking out two. Also chipped in with the bat which helped set up the Nats 3rd run of the 4th inning. After Lobaton reached second with a double he reached first on a swinging bunt which went about 50 feet and sent Lobaton to 3rd where he scored on the wild pitch.
Up next: Nats go on the road for 9 straight games and won't be back home at Nats park until the final day of July; July 31. They start the road trip with 3 games in Colorado vs. the floundering Rockies, then go onto Cincinnati for 3 games vs. the Reds, and finish up the trip in Miami with 3 vs. the Marlins. Monday's scheduled pitching matchup has Doug Fister (9-2, 2.90) who was pushed back from Sunday to Monday due to travel problems Gio Gonzalez had for the Nats vs. Franklin Morales (5-4, 5.26) for the Rockies. Game start is scheduled for 8:40 PM Eastern.
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