Jonny Gomes sparks as Washington Nationals defeat Philadelphia Phillies 5-4 - MLB Update
Washington Nationals’ left-fielder, Jonny Gomes had a remarkable day with the bat as he hit the final RBI and went 0-for-4 with an average of .208 in the Nationals’ 5-4 victory against the Philadelphia Phillies at Nationals Park, Washington on August 21.
Nationals had a decent start as they added two runs at the bottom of the first inning to get a 2-0 lead. Ian Desmond posted the first run for Nationals when Ryan Zimmerman hit a sacrifice fly towards right-field. Rick Ankiel scored a single run when Danny
Espinosa drove to left-field and Michael Morse moved to second base to end the first inning.
During second inning, Phillies also scored two runs to tie the game 2-2. Carlos Ruiz struck a two-run homer (383 feet) towards left-centre and Raul Ibanez contributed a tie run to keep the Phillies alive. In the third inning, Phillies went ahead 3-2 when
Chase Utley hit a one-run homer (388 feet) to right-centre.
The batters struggled in fourth and fifth innings as they failed to connect the curveballs properly. Nationals’ starter, Chien-Ming Wang pitched just over five innings with an ERA of 4.33 and surrendered three runs, five hits, one walk and two homers. He
struck-out four batters and gave up only three earned runs on his 88 pitches.
The game again levelled during sixth inning but with 3-3 as Espinosa struck a one-run homer (427 feet) towards centre-field. In seventh and eighth innings, the pitchers struck-out and grounded out the batters on their powerful pitches. Shane Victorino singled
off centre-field at the top of eighth inning but at left-field, Wilson Valdez lined out and at right-field Ryan Howard flied out without even a single run.
In the ninth inning, both teams advanced their respective score-card with one run and tied the game at 4-4. Michael Martinez singled to centre-field and Ibanez added a leading run for the Phillies while Ruiz occupied second base. On the other side, Desmond
hit a solo home-run (414 feet) towards left-field to post a tie run for the Nationals.
Nationals went ahead 5-4 in the additional 10th inning when Gomes was hit by a pitch and Zimmerman scored the decisive run to keep the Nationals on top. Werth moved to second base to end the 10th inning.
However, Nationals sealed the three-game series 2-1 against the Phillies at Nationals Park.
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