Nationals Back on Track…Defeat Astros 8-2

Going into tonight’s game, the Washington Nationals stood 3 ½ games out of a Wild Card

slot. That might sound pretty decent until you realize there’s two teams ahead of us in that

race to the playoffs. Let’s go, Nats…

Foster Griffin, the ace of the pitching staff on the mound tonight for the home team . Good

vibes…

Washington started the scoring in the bottom of the 3rd after a couple of walks and a fly out left James Wood on third and Luis Garcia on first. CJ Abrams’ sacrifice fly to center scored Garcia. Daylen Lile followed with a double to center field, scoring Garcia. 2-0 Nats.

The Nationals struck again in the bottom of the 4th. With two outs, Keibert Ruiz singled to center and James Wood walked. Luis Garcia followed with a three-run home-run, his 20th of the year. 5-0 good guys.

The Astros got on the board in the top of the 5th after Yainer Diaz doubled to left field and

scored on Brice Matthews’ single to center. 5-1 Nats.

CJ Abrams led off the bottom of the 5th with a home run to center field, also his 20th of the

season. A walk to Daylen Lile, a single by Dylan Crews, and a walk to Jorbit Vivas loaded

the bases. Jose Tena’s ground out scored Lile. Keibert Ruiz then hit a sacrifice fly to

center. Nats up 8-1.

The Astros got a little closer in the top of the 8th. Zach Dezenzo singled to center. Nick Allen

singled to shortstop. Dezenzo scored on a throwing error. 8-2 Nationals.

In the top of the 9th, Houston did advance a base runner to third, but no farther. Game

over. Washington with the 8 to 2 victory.

Foster Griffin ended up with a quality start, pitching 7 innings allowing 1 run on 5 hits while

striking out 9 Astros to get his I0th win of the season -- I was correct concerning that “good

vibes” feeling.

Washington is now two games over .500 at 48 and 46.

The Nats have a day off tomorrow before starting a three-game series at home against the

New York Yankees on Friday. The All-Star break starts this coming Monday.

Dave’s Dime…One hundred sixty-two games times thirty Major League teams equals four thousand eight hundred sixty games per year. Looking at that statistic, what would you think the odds would be that three highly unusual events; one record breaking, one record tying, and one kind of embarrassing, would take place on the same day? Well, here you go…the odds have been beaten and baseball fans are the winners.

The event that set a record: Ryan O’Hearn, a first baseman with the Pittsburgh Pirates, set a franchise record for RBIs in a game with ten, hitting three home runs in a 12-4 drubbing of the Atlanta Braves. O’Hearn hit a grand slam in the bottom of the 1st, a three-run homer in the bottom of the 3rd, and another three-run home run in the bottom of the 6th.

He drove in the first ten runs of the game. And get this…he had not driven in even one run in his previous six games. Way to break out of a slump, Ryan! The event that tied a record: Tyler Tolbert, an outfielder with the Kansas City Royals, tied an MLB record with twelve hits in twelve consecutive times at bat. Tyler had five hits in last night’s 16-12 victory over the New York Mets.

And get this…his last three hits never got out of the infield. That’s just crazy! Only two other players in MLB history had accomplished such a feat before Tolbert: Johnny Kling in 1902 and Walt Dropo in 1952. That’s some major MLB trivia for you. The event that was kind of embarrassing: Last night the New York Yankees struck out seventeen times in a 6-4 loss to Tampa Bay.

Starting pitcher Ian Seymour struck out twelve Yankees in 5 1/3 innings. Well, what makes that even more newsworthy is that in Monday’s contest, which the Yankees actually won against the Rays 5 to 1, the team also struck out seventeen times. Two games in a row…that’s thirty-four Ks in two games. That’s the first time an American League team had struck out that many times in two consecutive contests.

In Monday’s game, Rays’ starting pitcher Griffin Jax struck out ten Yankees while giving up one hit, a three-run homer by Jose Caballero. (Two Rays had walked before the home run, just in case you were wondering.) These are just three examples of what makes Major League Baseball a game like no other. You just never know what you’re gonna get.

Like with a box of assorted chocolates. Games in the middle of a long season that may not mean a lot in the grand scheme of things but end up being once in a lifetime events. Games you just go to because you love baseball, or you need a night out, or you’re meeting up with some friends at a fun and friendly place.

And then you witness something extraordinary… May your hot dogs always be juicy, may your beer always be cold, may your peanuts always be salty, may you always go home with a smile.

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