When the Nationals needed a win from Tanner Roark, he delivered with a 1-run performance in 7.0 innings as Ryan Madson and Kelvin Herrera closed out this game with no drama. The Nationals RBIs came from Matt Wieters with a solo home run, and Bryce Harper hit an opposite RBI double.
“We are just coming together as a team,” Bryce Harper said. “You want to work. You want to play hard. You want to win every game.”
In the fourth inning, Roark got into some trouble on a bases loaded situation on 4 consecutive singles to score a run with no outs. Roark then induced a pop-up and got the much needed strikeout followed by a harmless flyout by the pitcher. That would be the only run the Reds would score on this day.
“We had a lot of energy today,” manager Davey Martinez said. “It was a lot of fun…I’m proud of our boys.”
Strategically, Martinez made moves to use Michael Taylor and Trea Turner as pinch-hitters while being able to then keep them in the game as defensive replacements.
While Kelvin Herrera struggled last night to close out the 9th inning, today he controlled the zone and attacked the batters going through the heart of the Reds order which included a strikeout of Joey Votto who entered as a pinch-hitter.
