Nats Beat Giants, Odds – The Post
Last night’s win was pretty improbable by Washington standards:
In fact, the Nationals started the eighth inning trailing 28 times before last night’s game against the San Francisco Giants. They won only two of those games. When they trailed by one run entering the eighth inning last night, the odds of a comeback seemed as a good as the odds of turning around a forgettable season.
But a new month brought new fortune. Players who had been struggling — shortstop Cristian Guzmán and third baseman Ryan Zimmerman — drove in crucial runs. A leaky bullpen appeared partially sealed. And a deficit turned into a lead after six eighth-inning runs helped the Nationals to a 10-6 victory, breaking a six-game losing streak.
The bottom of the order came through with three consecutive singles to start the eighth. Guzmán added another one to put the Nats ahead. Zimmerman doubled in two runs to make it 8-5. They added two more.
Nats find positive end to ugly day – The Wash. Times
Right-hander Craig Stammen was never sharp against the free-swinging Giants, with his third pitch of the game swatted into the left-field seats by Aaron Rowand. But his sinking fastball induced enough groundouts that he needed just 82 pitches in six innings.
He could have gotten through all of them with relative calm. Like a pothole in the middle of the freeway, though, the Nationals ran into one of those comic sequences that have turned plenty of would-be wins into losses this year.
With runners on second and third, Stammen’s first-pitch curveball got away from Bard, allowing Fred Lewis to score. Bard raced to pick up the ball and tried shovel-passing it to Stammen. But it swooped over his head, and Juan Uribe scored to give the Giants a 3-2 lead.
San Francisco had reigning Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum on the mound, but the Nats kept themselves in the game.
Ron Vollone pitched 1 2/3 innings in the seventh and and eighth, picking up the win (3-0) for Washington. Joel Hannrahan pitched the ninth, giving up one run.
