Washington Nationals win 2-1 against Cincinnati Reds as they top NL East Division – MLB Update
Reliever Craig Stammen and right fielder Jayson Werth lead Washington Nationals to a 2-1 win against Cincinnati Reds on April 13, 2012 at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C.
In a continuation of a series of nail bitters, Nationals had another game ending up in their favour.
While in the last game it was a Ryan Zimmerman who made to home plate on a wild pitch, it was Werth making a single in the bottom of the 13th that proved decisive for the Nationals this time.
Hits were few and far between and as it turned out both teams combined for 13 in the game.
Jordan Zimmermann was lucky enough to survive the loss which was sure to come his way if the Nationals were to have lost in the end.
Although he conceded just one run in seven innings and gave up three hits, the fact this was to cause the defeat if that was the case, he rightly owes some thanks to Werth.
In a game as low scoring as this was, nothing however stopped Ian Desmond, Nationals' shortstop, from keeping his regular season batting average impressive.
He connected one hit in six at-bats, not a bad figure considering the total number of hits seen in the game.
Danny Espinosa completed the winning run at the back of bases-loaded single by Werth in the 13th.
Nationals’ amazing bullpen strength was evident from the fact that their sixth pitcher Stammen had enough to deliver and did not bog down against the pressure.
In contrast, the moment the Reds replaced Alfredo Simon with Sean Marshall, it looked as if all options had been exhausted by them and their otherwise least option became the only remaining choice they were left with.
Unsurprisingly then Marshall gave an easy single to Werth, allowing Nationals surge to victory. Nationals are leading in the National League East Division with six wins so far in the season. As they entered the season under high expectations, they look
all set to live up to those at the moment.
Last season Nationals performed better but were short of pulling off anything substantial. They have the best chance to stand up as one of the Division Champions from the National League this year if they keep the momentum at the same level.
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