Bryce Harper set the table with a booming lead-off home run and finished a triple shy of hitting for the cycle in the Nats fourth win in a row to clinch this series against the previously first place Pittsburgh Pirates. Matt Adams added his own home run with a single and two walks in support of starter Stephen Strasburg.
“Right now the guys are blending,” Dave Martinez said about his line-up. “They’re doing well. We’ve got another righty tomorrow. The line-up will be pretty much the same. Zim will be back in there — obviously. Other than that the line-up will be the same.”
Interesting choice of words by Dave Martinez on Zim being in the line-up “obviously” because to many they were thinking this was the start of a platoon as Matt Adams is absolutely en fuego. Adams is now 11-for-his-last-20 (.550 batting average) with 4 home runs and 11 RBIs. For the season, Adams is now batting .316 with a 1.110 OPS to lead the team.
Every Nats starting position player had at least 1 hit in this 14 hit assault on Ivan Nova who was supposed to be the Pirates #1 pitcher. It was Strasburg who shined in 7 innings of work giving up 2 earned runs with 11 strikeouts.
The Nationals have looked like they have found a line-up that works. The team was 6-for-19 with RISP chances.
