Cliff Lee’s shutout helps Philadelphia Phillies defeat Washington Nationals 4-0 – MLB update
Cliff Lee put in a brilliant pitching performance as Philadelphia Phillies beat Washington Nationals 4-0 at Nationals Park, Washington on Thursday, April 14.
The Nationals were probably still recovering from what Roy Halladay unleashed on them as he pitched a full nine innings in their last defeat. They certainly weren’t ready for another world class pitcher to come and blow them away, once again. That is exactly
what Cliff Lee did. The ace-after-ace starting rotation that the Philadelphia Phillies have is definitely helping them win.
Halladay had thrown a complete nine innings just a day before and Lee intends to do that same. "I want to throw nine innings every time I take the mound. That's that," he said.
This comes as a refreshing change in the age where pitch counts are under intense scrutiny and relief specialists are present all the time and all the pitchers are concerned about is protecting their arms. "I want to be a guy who throws complete games every
time," Lee said. "That's not really realistic, but going into each game, that's what I'm trying to do."
He seemed to have recovered nicely from the last time he was on the mound against the Atlanta Braves where he gave up ten hits and six runs, all within three and one-third innings. That marked the shortest start since September of 2009.
His performance against the Braves wasn’t something permanent and he was back to being the excellent pitcher that he is against the Nationals. He swept change ups in the dirt and fooled hitters with fastballs that darted across the back of the plate. He
got plenty of the hitters right in the positions he wanted them in and that is always an advantage.
Lee battled 30 batters which are three above the minimum and recorded his 21st complete game along with his sixth shut-out. One more strike-out would have resulted in another one of his career bests. The Nationals’ leadoff hitter Ian Desmond went
zero for four after three strike-outs.
In this game against the Nationals, Lee had 12 strike-outs and three-hit shut-out innings. This comes only a day after Halladay let loose his pitching prowess on Washington and the Nationals just didn’t have enough recovery time in between to heal.
Carlos Ruiz hit a shot that was barely over the wall and resulted in a homer. After two outs, the Phillies had their second hit which was a double by Shane Victorino. Wilson Ramos, the rookie singled in the fifth inning.
In the seventh inning of the game he struck-out five in a row and managed to contain Rick Ankiel, Jayson Werth and Adam LaRoche. It was only the most fitting end to the game as Lee ended it by getting Werth to ground out. Werth was an ex-Philly who joined
the Nationals at a staggering price when he hit the free agent market.
Tags: