Dan Haren’s pitching muscles Los Angeles Angels to 1-0 win over Washington Nationals – MLB Update
Dan Haren restricted the Washington Nationals to just two hits in the seven innings he pitched as the Los Angeles Angels cruised past the Washington Nationals 1-0 at the Angels Stadium in Anaheim on June 29.
The Angels managed to shut-out the Nationals led by Haren’s superb show with the pitching. The win also enabled the Angels to complete a three-game sweep of the Nationals, treating them like minnows.
The 6ft 5in lanky pitcher gathered all that he had learned during his eight years in professional baseball and exhibited a performance which would be recalled time and again. In seven innings, he threw 120 pitches and managed 77 strikes with six strike-outs.
Haren’s current season has been outstanding hitherto with 98 strike-outs and an ERA of 2.85. Dan is fast approaching a few milestones. His eighth win of the season in this game takes him to 99 career-wins, one short of reaching 100. Moreover, he is now just
one short of 1350 strike-outs and two short of recording a 100 this season.
Coming into this series, the Nationals had won 13 out of 15 previous games but Angels Stadium did not prove to be lucky for the Nationals, if anything. They were clean-swept for the third time, Philadelphia and Baltimore previously achieving it. Co-incidentally,
all series sweeps for the Nationals have been on the road.
Haren, the three-time All-Star player remained modest on his achievement. He pointed out that his fastball and split delivery turned out better than they had been previously been.
He said, “To be honest, it wasn't that much different than my other outings.”
Jerry Hairston of the Nationals received a blow in the right hand off Dan’s pitching in the fifth inning. The pitch got big on him and Hairston just could not move away.
The Nationals’ starter, Jordan Zimmermann was efficient with his pitching too but a fourth inning unearned run by Bobby Abreu did not allow Zimmermann to shut-out the Angels and match Haren’s performance. In eight innings, Zimmermann conceded four hits with
as many strike-outs at an ERA of 2.63. Criticising Zimmermann’s pitching would not be wise as his numbers are decent. It was his counterpart’s exceptional effort that inflicted his seventh loss of the season.
It was a tough ball game between both starters but a small mistake by third baseman Zimmerman allowed the Angels to grab a run which then tilted the balance towards Haren. It had been an equal encounter otherwise.
With the season almost mid-way, the Angels are 42-40 with the Nationals not-so-far behind at 40-41. Both teams will learn from this series and apply it to the games ahead. The Nationals now know that wins have to be hard earned and Angels need to avoid complacency
after an overwhelming show.
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