Despite a ninth inning scare, Nats secure win over Brewers.
After an impressive performance and a much-needed win from the Washington Nationals on Friday night, the momentum continued as the Nationals topped the Milwaukee Brewers, 3-1, on Saturday night.
It looked like left fielder James Wood was going to get things started for the Nationals early in the first inning. With the help of a throwing error caused by the Brewers' first baseman, Gary Sánchez, Wood found himself securing first. Curtis Mead then grounded out to third.
Wood was slowly making his way towards home. But after right fielder Daylen Lile grounded out to shortstop, the opportunity to strike first was paused.
With three more scoreless innings for both teams, it truly became a question of who would strike first.
It wasn’t until the top of the fifth inning that fans got to see a Nationals offensive spark. With the bottom of the order lined up, Jacob Young singled to right followed by Nasim Nuñez and his double to right pushing Young to third.
With Wood back behind the bat and two runners in scoring position, Wood doubled to left on a four-seam 94mph fastball, putting Young and Nuñez at home.
Jacob Young runs to third putting himself in scoring position. The Brewers were looking to respond, and it appeared like they were going to do just that in the bottom of the sixth inning. Nationals pitcher Foster Griffin was relieved by Brad Lord after leaving runners on first and second.
With Lord on the mound, the Brewers would intentionally walk Christian Yelich. Jake Bauers would hit for Sánchez.
With bases loaded, the Brewers were looking for a grand slam to take control of the game after throwing errors contributed to the home team's struggles. Bauers would ground out to the second.
Lord averages a 94.7 mph fastball. A pitch that has seemed to be his specialty is paying off.
As a whole, the Nationals' pitching was stronger as they continued to work towards limiting walks and keeping the pitch count on the lower end, something manager Blake Butera had previously addressed.
Butera said that he knew the bullpen would turn things around, and that’s exactly what they did.
The Nationals padded their 2-0 lead in the top of the ninth after a Nuñez walk and a Keibert Ruiz double to right. Nuñez was able to haul himself all the way home from second to put the Nationals up 3-0.
The game wasn’t over after closing pitcher Clayton Beeter was looking to silence the home crowd. But quickly, it felt like things were unraveling for the Nationals.
Only two pitches into the bottom of the ninth inning, Brewers William Contreras homers the 95 mph four-seam fastball 378 feet, putting the Brewers on the board for the first time of the night.
In a familiar position again, the Brewers would then load the bases with two outs, but the Nationals would eventually secure the win after holding to a groundball.
The Nationals look to continue their road success tomorrow at 2:10 p.m. and sweep the Brewers.