Washington Nationals beat Atlanta Braves 6-3 in 2012 Spring Training - MLB Update
Starter, Mike Minor, gives up four earned runs as Atlanta Braves lose 3-6 to Washington Nationals at Space Coast Stadium in Melbourne, Florida on March 29, 2012 during their Grapefruit League contest.
Nationals have started to experience a kind of momentum they wished earlier to have just at the start of regular season.
Winning two back-to-back games, even more significant is the fact that Edwin Jackson, who earlier in training was humbled with a couple of rough times on the mound has returned to his best.
Even on offensive front, Nationals looked totally dominant. While going scoreless in first five innings, they accumulated six runs in the sixth.
Third baseman, Ryan Zimmerman, seized upon the room Braves' starter Minor offered and while drawing a two run homer, he ended up his outing on hitting once in four at-bats and adding two RBIs and completing one run.
Shortstop, Ian Desmond, however was unable to replicate his last game performance and while he faced four at-bats, he hit once that too in vain as no single ensued.
Similar was a case with Jayson Werth, who in his last few games announced how big a threat he can be to opponents with his slugging ability. In three at-bats, he connected none.
By and large, Nationals had managed to draw enough from their hitters to record a win. Only problem they can potentially have even in the season is of injuries.
Mark DeRosa, who holds an amazing career slugging percentage of .416 sat out in the game despite being scheduled to play owing to pain he felt on his left calf.
Braves' starter Minor, pitched little more than five innings and though striking-out six, he walked five and conceded one home-run. Manager, Gonzalez however was happy the way he stayed on the mound for such a long time.
Centre fielder, Jason Heyward slammed a massive homer to Nationals’ star performer in the game, Jackson. He came across three at-bats, brought one RBI and completed one run.
"For a place where the wind blows out all the time, the wind wasn't blowing," Gonzalez said. "This was a calm day in Melbourne. He got all of it. I kept looking at it to see how high up the wall it was going to be and all of a sudden it was like, wow, it
didn't hit the wall."
Win has strengthened Nationals’ confidence and while Braves will go back doing some soul-searching, Nationals will be dreaming as to how far they can go in the 2012 regular season.
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