Jordan Zimmerman shines as Washington Nationals defeat Colorado Rockies 2-0 – MLB Update
Jordan Zimmerman pitched six strong innings to help the Washington Nationals beat the Colorado Rockies 2-0 at Nationals Park on Sunday, July 10 to avoid the Rockies sweep in the three game series.
After losing the first two games with a slightly small margin, 3-2 and 2-1, the Washington Nationals reposed their confidence in their starter, Zimmerman. With the kind of record he holds, Zimmerman was hardly disappointing.
The victory, beyond the shadow of doubt, could not come without Zimmerman’s exploit. In the 4-hit six innings that he pitched, Ryan remained pretty economical and showed no generosity when it came to allowing runs.
"My slider was probably the best it's ever been," said Zimmermann, who didn't allow a run for the third time in his past six starts. "I felt like I could throw it whenever and where I wanted to."
Sunday’s game, more or less, was dominated by the pitchers who went against the hitters full force, barely allowing them to open their bats. Jordan Zimmerman started the game with supreme confidence and pitched a scoreless inning.
Jhoulys Chacin also pitched some good innings. His variation apparently seemed pretty effective as by the time the two teams entered into the sixth inning, none of them had opened their accounts. However, Chacin fumbled in the sixth inning.
Chacin threw pitches at Zimmerman who was followed by Roger Bernadina. He singled to right on a pitch that was not fast enough, allowing Ian Desmond to score. With Zimmerman’s strong innings and Bernadina’s single, the Nationals had scored their first run.
Mattheus came as a reliever for Zimmerman. Mattheus pitched a scoreless seventh inning to maintain the lead followed by Chacin’s seventh inning in which he only gave up a hit.
Rick Ankiel capitalised on the seemingly slow pitch of Matt Lindstrom to double the lead for the Nationals against a now apparently fatigued Colorado Rockies offence. The Rockies were barely able to find an opportunity to score.
Tyler Clippard pitched a scoreless ninth to seal the fate of game in Washington’s favour, winning the game 2-0. The win also avoided the Rockies sweep just when they looked in the position to prevail.
"We started off pretty slow this year, and now we got back to .500," Zimmermann said, "and I think we've got good momentum going into the second half.” Compared to five hits that the Rockies’ pitchers gave up, the Nationals’ pitchers allowed six hits, but
no run.
It would be interesting to see how the Nationals maintain their momentum in the coming days. The Rockies will be disappointed that their offence was unable to get anything going against the National’s pitching line-up.
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