Jonathon Niese helps New York Mets past Washington Nationals 3-0 - MLB Update
The New York Mets’ starter, Jonathon Niese had an outstanding day with the ball, as he threw seven-shutout inning in the club’s 3-0 victory over the Washington Nationals, at the Citi Field, New York, on Tuesday, May 18.
The Mets’ manager Terry Collins was impressed to see a brilliant show with the ball. Collins expressed his excitement and said, "He's certainly showing he can pitch in a jam. With our line-up shaken up a little bit, we've got to pitch."
Niese struck out seven batters, allowed just one walk and six hits over seven innings pitched to earn his third win of the season in his seventh start. Niese’s win has moved him to a 3-4 record with a 4.39 ERA in 2011.
As Jason Bay has scored, an RBI single off the Nationals’ starter Tom Gorzelanny in the first inning, the 24-year-old ball thrower played exceptionally to secure his club their ninth home win. Reliever Jason Isringhausen and closer Francisco Rodriguez each
tossed one shut-out inning.
"I've never played in anything like that," Niese said. "It's the wettest I've ever been pitching....Every ball the umpire gave me was wet. I had to do my best to rub them dry in my hands."
After yielding an early run, Gorzelanny struck back to take his team back into the game. In the sixth inning though, he gave away an RBI double when Justin Turner stroked a fastball to deep centre-field, allowing Scott Hairston and Jose Reyes to score.
The Nationals' manager Jim Riggleman then replaced Gorzelanny with Henry Rodriguez to avoid receiving more runs. The move worked as Rodriguez remained scoreless in his short spell. Todd Coffey also acted as per the expectations of the manager and threw shut-out
eighth inning.
Closer Doug Slaten also tossed a perfect ninth inning to, however batters could not take advantage of the chance provided by the pitchers. In their combined 34 at-bats, the Nationals’ batters able to generate just eight hits, however all remained scoreless.
The Nationals’ short-stop Ian Desmond entered the plate four times but could not hit even a single ball.
Desmond said, "It was wet and rainy just like it looked, but I think all of us were kind of itching to play. We were ready to get back out there."
Left-fielder Michael Morse was the only batter, who touched two hits and scored a drove in single, but got out each time.
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