Washington Nationals’ Davey Johnson rewarded for putting faith in Ross Detwiler - MLB Update
Washington Nationals stay alive in the series as they beat the St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday. After the Nationals lost to the Cardinals in the third match, it was feared that they are going to experience an early exit from the playoffs.
Despite the failures, Nationals’ manager Davey Johnson was confident that his team will bounce back and will not leave the season until they have achieved something enviable.
In this regard as the Nationals have tied the series now, he will be extremely pleased. With the way his starter Ross Detwiler completed innings and restricted the Cardinals, he will be excited about his team’s chances ahead in the season.
Putting Detwiler on the mound for doing the starting job was not an ideal scenario. Detwiler was given this opportunity because there was no other option left for the Nationals.
For example, with Stephen Strasburg shut-down, the Nationals’ rotation is without its most dependable arm.
Strasburg has been the cornerstone of success that the Nationals enjoyed in the regular season.
Certainly his absence has not only reduced options for Johnson but it can easily affect the overall performance of the Nationals.
In particular when the post-season is underway, without Strasburg it is extremely difficult for the Nationals to dominate the opposition.
Fortunately, Johnson saw his starter Detwiler completing an impressive spell of innings in arguably the most important game of the Nationals’ expedition in the season.
Other than Detwiler, Jayson Werth and Adam LaRoche also played a significant role in ensuring victory for Washington in the fourth game.
Johnson planned before the match on Thursday that if Detwiler struggles initially he will immediately bring Jordan Zimmermann on the mound. As Detwiler was terrific in the initial few innings, Johnson did not introduce Zimmermann until the passage of reasonable
number of innings.
"Left-handers have trouble with the ballclub," Johnson said, "We're in a situation where if Det has a problem I can go to [Jordan] Zimmermann earlier. There's not a gameplan, a really good game plan for when you don't get a good start from your starters."
With the series levelled 2-2, Johnson will be looking to keep the momentum going and see his team defeating the Cardinals in the final game of the Division series.
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