Kyle Lohse shines as St. Louis Cardinals defeat Washington Nationals 5-0 – MLB Update
Kyle Lohse put in a brilliant performance as St. Louis Cardinals defeated Washington Nationals 5-0 at Busch Stadium, St. Louis on Thursday, April 21.
Lohse threw an impressive nine shut-out innings which consisted of only two hits. This was his career best and came at the very right time.
The performance also won the team manager Tony La Russa’s appreciation. "We've seen Kyle like this, this is the guy that won 15 games for us. He's been going out there with less than his best and taking his beating at times, so I think he just enjoys having
a fair chance."
Lohse made a promising start when he came for pitching in the very first inning. As the starter, there might not have been a lot that the team was expecting from him owing to the injuries that greatly afflicted the player in last two seasons. But Lohse was
incredibly effective this time.
Kyle had two season of highly unanticipated, if not unwelcome, injuries. "I had some tough times beating myself up, trying to figure out what was going on," Lohse said. "It feels good to be back in that groove and being successful again."
Lohse took on Danny Espinosa in a characteristic way, with incredible pace. There hardly seemed a moment from the beginning of the game that anyone would be able to play him easily. When he gave the best defence in the first inning, St. Louis’ batters strengthened
the offence.
Matt Holliday had a two-run homer in the second inning, making it a 2-0 lead for the Cardinals. In the meanwhile, Lohse rendered the Washington batters virtually ineffective in front of his fastball whose velocity did not seem to be slowing even for a single
ball.
Albert Pujols then charged Collin Balester who had come out to pitch for Washington. His two-run homer gave the Cardinals an unsurpassable lead of 4-0 given the fact that Lohse was unplayable. David Freese took the lead to 5-0 when he doubled to left centre.
Lohse sealed the victory for the Cardinals in the ninth inning when, like his eight unhittable and unplayable innings, his 9th inning had all the force to not allow the Washington batters to go for anything beyond ordinary. His feat allowed the
Cardinals to add another win in their list of victories.
Holliday has been no less impressive with his performance. In the last few games, he has utilised every mistake the rival pitchers have made and perfectly executed every ball. In the end, St. Louis took a comfortable win over the Nationals.
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