Nats completed an 8-0 shutout over Aaron Nola and improved to a season’s best 14 games over .500, and the Washington Nationals offense has now scored 49 runs over the last 6 games which is 8.2 runs per game. The Nats scored 8 runs today with no home runs.
Tanner Roark pitched a great game in a 7 inning shutout with 7 strikeouts and improved his ERA to 2.93 on a 6 hitter in which contact was weak for most of the day.
Michael Taylor, Clint Robinson, and Stephen Drew all started today in place of Werth, Zimmerman and Espinosa respectively, and the trio did great combining for 7 hits in 11 at-bats. Chris Heisey came off the bench for a pinch-hit and stroked a double to improve The Wolfpack to an 8-12 day. Did Trea Turner have anything to do with ‘The Wolfpack’ nickname for the bench guys as an NC State alumni or was it an homage to Jayson ‘Werewolf’ Werth?
On top of the offense from the bench bats, Ben Revere got 2 hits to finish this game over .200, and Harper, Rendon and Murphy all had big hits. Tanner Roark had a safety squeeze that scored Anthony Rendon which was a key in the 2nd inning.
Not to be lost in a boxscore, Wilson Ramos beat out a groundball that could have been a doubleplay and Clint Robinson in the next at-bat beat out an infield single. Those 2 plays turned the 5th inning into a 3 run frame due to the hustle.
The Nats defense turned to nice Web Gems from Anthony Rendon and Daniel Murphy. The Nats turned in a great effort today in every facet of the game from pitching to hitting to defense to baserunning.
