After torrential rains washed out their scheduled game on Tuesday night, the Washington Nationals and Los Angeles Dodgers played a straight doubleheader on Wednesday. The Nationals won the first game, 3-1, but the Dodgers rebounded to win the second game, 7-6.
Nationals, Dodgers Split Doubleheader
The Washington Nationals won the first game of their doubleheader with the Los Angeles Dodgers, 3-1, but the Dodgers took the second game, 7-6.
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The Nationals claimed victory in the opening game on the strength of six good innings from starter Jordan Zimmermann and some timely hitting.
The Nationals struck first in the second inning when Michael Morse and Danny Espinosa singled. Kurt Suzuki hit a sacrifice fly to bring home Morse. The Dodgers would tie it up an inning later, as Andre Ethier, Matt Kemp and Hanley Ramirez all singled.
Bryce Harper's triple to lead off the fifth inning would prove to be the difference, as he later scored on a Ryan Zimmerman ground out.
Game 2 of the twin bill was a much more dramatic event. The Dodgers chased Nationals' starter John Lannan after only 3⅔ innings, with three runs in the third and three more in the fourth. It was death by a thousand cuts for Lannan, as the Dodgers knocked him around with six singles but no extra-base hits.
Dodgers' starter Josh Beckett cruised through the first seven innings, shutting out the Nationals and allowing only two hits. But the eighth proved much more difficult, as the Nationals batted around and tied the game. Home runs from Morse and Steve Lombardozzi cut the Dodgers' lead in half, and four singles tied it up at six.
Tyler Clippard came on in the ninth to pitch for the Nationals and Kemp greeted him with a deep home run to center field. Brandon League would nail down the save.
For more on the Dodgers, please visit True Blue LA. More on the Nationals can be found at Federal Baseball.
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