Los Angeles Dodgers rebound to defeat Washington Nationals 7-3 – MLB Update
The Los Angeles Dodgers batting line-up retaliated in a devastating manner to snatch the second outing with a 7-3 score against the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park in Washington on Tuesday, September 6.
Nationals injured striker Stephan Strasburg came back and shined with his two-hitter five shut-out innings. The Dodgers were struggling hard to come out of Strasburg’s spell but they failed due to high class sliders and granular fastballs of Strasburg.
The condition aggravated for the Dodgers in the bottom of the second inning when their starter Ted Lilly gave away three runs to the Nationals. This recorded the Nationals 3-0 dominance over the struggling Dodgers.
Dodgers breathed a sigh of relief when Nationals’ manager Davey Johnson replaced Strasburg with Doug Slaten. Dee Gordon, Jamey Carroll and Matt Kemp joined to shatter his club’s scoreless game. Dee Gordon was on first base and Carroll was occupying second
base when Matt Kemp singled to shallow left-centre, allowing Carroll to add the Dodgers’ first run. After this single, Slaten allowed a walk that permitted Gordon to steal third and Kemp to second.
With all the bases loaded, Andre Ethier drove in a single to centre-field, scoring Gordon and Kemp for the game tier runs.
The bottom of the seventh inning was worked by the Dodgers’ top relief pitcher Kenley Jansen, who defended the 3-all lead brilliantly with his fastballs. He sent three of the four Nationals’ batters to camp making them strike-out over his 16 pitches long
inning. He earned his second win of the season and improved his record to 2-1 with a 1.92 ERA.
At the top of the sixth inning, game tied 3-all and remained at the same position until Rod Barajas scored an RBI single to take the Dodgers into a 5-3 lead in the top of the eighth inning.
In the next inning, Andre Ethier scored an RBI double to take the Dodgers into a 7-3 dominating position.
The decision to remove Strasburg proved wrong for the Nationals’ manager. However, he appreciated a 23-year-old hurler, who was drafted in 2009.
"He was outstanding. He looked totally relaxed, totally in control," manager Davey Johnson said. "He had all his pitches working. He made it look easy. Real low pitch count. Looked strong at the end. ... It was just like he hadn't been out."
Strasburg tossed 40 strikes of 56 pitches and struck-out four batters to complete his game with a 0.00 ERA.
Next game will be a series finale as both teams have one win under their belt.
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