Arizona Diamondbacks humiliated by Washington Nationals 1-9 – MLB Recap
The Arizona Diamondbacks suffered a humiliating 1-9 defeat from the Washington Nationals in the first game of their three-match regular series encounter on Friday, August 10 at Chase Field in Phoenix.
Nationals’ batting line-up exploded on the Diamondbacks’ dire offence and rattled them with big energy. Second baseman Stephen Lombardozzi scored four runs and smashed four hits on his five at-bats while his slugging percentage also remained consistent at .353.
Along with Lombardozzi, the Nationals’ third baseman Ryan Zimmerman also played well and scored two runs and smashed one hit along with two RBIs.
Nationals’ starting pitcher Stephen Strasburg however, was the most promising player with his extraordinary pitching.
He pitched six innings and allowed only one run as he retired six batters with his ERA remained consistent at 2.90.
"I wish I went out there and threw strikes, but it just didn't work out, I was definitely throwing lot of fastballs early, trying to get them to swing the bat. I didn't really show [my curveball] early, so I knew that third time through the lineup, that was a pitch they haven't seen, so I wanted to mix it in a little bit more," Strasburg said.
On the other hand, the Diamondbacks’ pitchers certainly disappointed with their performances. They all gave nine runs in total and literally lost the game for their team.
"You have to play a lot better than we did to beat [Strasburg], He's got good stuff, obviously. I thought we had a pretty good approach. We had a lot of three-ball counts against him," D-backs’ manager Kirk Gibson said.
Trevor Cahill pitched six innings and allowed four runs and six hits along with two homers on his 3.85 ERA.
Relief pitcher Mike Zagurski also played poorly and gave four runs and four hits. He was able to strike-out only one batter and his ERA rose to 6.18.
The only pitcher in the Diamondbacks who somewhat played well for his team was closing pitcher Takashi Saito as he did not receive any hit or run on his consistent 3.86 ERA.
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