Washington Nationals overpower the Houston Astros with 6-3 win—MLB Update
Washington Nationals made another promising start in the four-game series on Monday, April 16, to beat the Houston Astros by 6-3. The game saw Stephan Strasburg of the Nationals overpower the helpless Astros hitters as he pitched six strong innings.
Strasburg who was facing Kyle Weiland as the rival on the mound on Monday conceded only two runs, giving up merely six hits with five strikeouts to his credit. The Astros starter, on the other hand, was in trouble as Nationals hitters continued their domination throughout the game. Weiland gave up six runs in his 5.2 innings, having only two strikeouts with 8.44 ERA.
As for Strasburg, he spoke of the adjustments he had recently made which lent credible support to his success on Monday. "I made an adjustment in New York with it. In the `pen, it wasn't working warming up. I just wanted to go out there and trust it -- and it worked pretty well,” Strasburg said.
Weiland, on the other hand, viewed things differently. "You try to focus on your own game. Obviously, you know that's in the back of your mind. He's going to go out there and give his best, and it's probably going to be a low scoring game," Weiland said.
Washington Nationals opened their account with the third inning one-run single that came off Steve Lombardozzi’s bat. Wilson Ramos made it 2-0 in the 4th while Lombardozzi scored a double to left in sixth inning to take the lead up to 4-2 when after Chris Johnson of the Astros levelled the score in the top of the sixth.
Ryan Zimmerman took Weiland to task in the same inning to take the lead to 6-2 with his single to right centre. Chris Johnson once again tried to stage a comeback for the Astros with his eighth inning triple to deep centre, but that could not quite click as lead came down to 6-3.
Henry Rodriguez pitched a scoreless and hitless ninth inning to conclude the game with 6-3 win for the Washington Nationals as the team took a 1-0 lead in the four-game series.
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