The #1 overall pick in the 2011 draft took the loss in this game, and the player who once was playing independent ball got the win and the shutout. Tanner Roark finished the game with 8 innings of shutout ball and lowered his ERA to 2.82 which is……wait for it……..13th best in the Major Leagues. If the All-Star game was next week, Roark would have to be on the All-Star team.
The Nats bats came alive early and often for the 6-0 win with contributions across the board, and Stephen Drew was 3-4 with 3 doubles. This bizarre play (video here) blew the game open when the score was 2-0. The Pirates continue to self-destruct in this series and the Nationals continue to capitalize.
The Nationals running game was aggressive again tonight, and the Nationals matched their 2015 season total tonight in steals (57) when Werth and Espinosa recorded steals in the game.
Honorable mention to Blake Treinen who came in for the 9th inning to relieve Tanner Roark with 2 men on and no outs. Treinen tried to induce a doubleplay but a weak grounder found a hole to make the party full with bases loaded and no outs. No problem for Treinen who then got 3 straight outs with another of his Houdini acts and preserved the shutout.
There was an oddity in the game where Gerrit Cole entered the game with a 2.77 ERA and Tanner Roark entered with a 3.01 ERA, and by the end of each pitcher’s outings, it was as if they exchanged ERA’s. Roark had a chance to get close to 2.77 if he threw the complete game shutout and Cole’s ERA shot up with 4 earned runs to a 3.11 ERA.
Most starts of at least 7 IP and 0 R in @MLB this season:
Tanner Roark – 6
Jake Arrieta – 5
Five tied – 4 pic.twitter.com/vcvoFnWmWN— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) July 17, 2016
We recently upgraded our comment system to improve reliability, performance, and long-term control, and we’re currently running both systems during the transition. This shift moves us away from an external service to a system we run and control directly—meaning we own the content and can continue improving it over time. We’ve also reduced the comment refresh delay from about 30 seconds to 10 seconds, making it much closer to real-time.
We understand there have been frustrations and increased feedback, and we’re actively working to improve things. What we ask is simple: use the system and give it a fair shot. If you run into issues, please submit them through the support form so we can track and fix them properly. Repeated complaints without details don’t help us solve problems—we appreciate your patience as we continue refining the experience.
If you’d like a full side-by-side comparison of the platforms and the reasons behind this decision, please refer to the chart below. This change is being made with the long-term benefit of the entire community in mind.