Washington Nationals beat St. Louis Cardinals 3-2 as Tyler Moore shines in Game 1 of NLDS – MLB
Pinch hitter Tyler Moore leads Washington Nationals to a 3-2 victory against St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium, St. Louis, Missouri on October 7, 2012 in the first game of the five match National League Division Series.
Nationals had a humble beginning in the game. They allowed the Cardinals to leave them behind and jump to a one-run lead in the second inning.
They were unable to score a couple of runs half way through the game and cut in to the Cardinals' lead.
Until the completion of the seventh inning, Washington remained one run short of the Cardinals which meant that the defeat was not a distant possibility for them.
Thanks to the timely single by Moore in the eighth inning, they bounced back effectively to ruin Cardinals’ chances for a victory. The fact Moore led two base-runners aboard late in the innings provided little time to the Cardinals for reinstating their
lead.
Moore explains his experience at the plate on Sunday. He took his time to understand the situation and finally he was successful in finding connection.
"I was just trying to calm myself down and try to make some things happen and not strike out up there," Moore said. "I wanted to at least put something into play."
Gio Gonzalez did the starting job. Far from living up to his reputation, his command and control was unimpressive. He walked seven in five innings during the game.
If it was not for the impeccable innings thrown by the Nationals’ relievers, he may have suffered the loss on Sunday.
Relief pitcher Drew Storen claimed the save by throwing the last inning scoreless.
Gonzalez's poor show was eclipsed by the dominance of the relievers. Hence, he escaped the blame which had to come right on him in the case of failure.
"All the credit in the world goes to the bullpen," Gonzalez said. "I've been saying it all year. The reason why we've been so successful is these guys come in and shut it down."
The Nationals were under pressure in the first game of the series.
As they managed to win it, their confidence will be high. They will be looking to build on the momentum and win the rest of the matches in the series.
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