Washington Nationals top Reds, 8-7, in extra innings

The Washington Nationals continue to stay red hot on the road after they picked up yet another win in Cincinnati against the Reds, 8-7, in game two of a three-game series. 

It was a silent start for the Nationals. After a scoreless first inning they hoped that this would be the only time they didn’t see any action.

Jake Irvin got his ninth start of the season. Going into tonight's game, the right handed pitcher was 1-4 on the season with a 5.22 ERA. 39.2 innings under his belt he has allowed 16 walks all while recording 41 strikeouts. Irvin needed to have a strong first inning to set the tone for the game. 

But the Reds made sure to start their lead early. After a one run score and two outs, it looked like the inning was going to come to close. However, after an ABS challenge by Spencer Steer, the apparent strike call was overturned to keep the Reds alive.

Steer eventually earned a walk, followed by Lowe’s walk. In what would have been the end of the inning the Reds turned it around to load up the bases. 

After just three pitches from Irvin to Tyler Stephenson, contact was made on the 90 mph sinker to send the ball flying 406 feet for a Reds grand slam to put the home team up over the Nationals 5-0. 

However, the Nationals didn’t waste time playing catch up. CJ Abrams hit a lead off double followed by Jacob Young’s single out to left. For the first time tonight, the Nationals had runners in potential scoring position. 

Thanks to Daylen Lile’s sacrifice fly to left, Abrams was able to secure home and put the Nationals on the board. Joey Weimer also hit a double, sending it down right field just enough for Young to sprint all the way home for another Nationals run. 

Keibert Ruiz closed out the second inning after he drilled a two run homer 386 feet to left to close in on the Reds, 5-4. This marked the third home run by Ruiz this season.

After a deflating first inning for Irvin, he was able to gain some control in the bottom of the second inning. Irvin only allowed one walk and went on to throw three strikeouts all of which came off of curve balls.

The Nationals know that they have to stay on this pace and remain consistent if they want to have a shot of picking up another win against the Reds. And it looked like it was going to happen. 

In his typical manner, it was once again Abrams who hit his second double of the night in the top of the third to put Mead in scoring position. The Nationals had the potential to tie things up and hopefully take the lead. Young earned a walk and the Nationals now had bases loaded for the first time of the night. 

With Lile back at the plate and only one out, he had his eyes set on a grand slam. But the cards weren’t in his favor after a curve ball struck Lile out swinging, passing the pressure to Wiemer. Even though it wasn’t a grand slam, Wiemer was able to draw in a runner off he walked to tie things up at 5-5 all while keeping the bases loaded. 

Despite three runners getting stranded after Nasim Nuñez grounded out to second, the Nationals were able to pull themselves out of the deficit and get back into the game.

However, it seemed that anytime the Nationals found themselves creeping up on the Reds, the home team found themselves back on top.

Errors just seem to follow the Nationals this season and it’s one of the Nationals top players who finds himself having defensive errors. Behind the bat, Abrams is a powerhouse. He’s currently one of the top players in the MLB when it comes to RBI’s. But on the field, Abrams continues to have errors. 

What appeared to be the end of the inning turned into an extra run for the Reds after an Abrams throwing error brought in Lowe to put the Reds back on top, 6-5. The Nationals will need to look forward to how they can improve on errors considering they have already accumulated 42 errors this season. That’s an average of one error per game.   

In this game of back and forth, the Nationals have once again tied things back up in the fifth after García’s ground out to first gave way for Young to score. But after this, the night would once again go silent, this time for both teams forcing the game into extra innings. 

In front of all his friends and family, it was Lile who got things done in extra innings. On the third pitch to Lile, he drilled the 83 mph slurve 409 feet to right center for the two run homer to put the Nationals on top 8-6. Lile has now recorded three homers in two games. 

The Nationals will look to sweep the Reds tomorrow at 12:40 p.m. before heading back home to take on the Orioles in the Battle of the Beltway.