Tag Archives: Drew Storen

Zimmerman slam leads Nationals over Padres 11-7, Strasburg picks up the win

WP – S. Strasburg (4-6) LP – R. Erlin (1-2)

On a sizzling afternoon, Ryan Zimmerman crushed a bases clearing grand slam to deep right center, scoring Bryce Harper, Ian Desmond and Stephen Strasburg to lead the Washington Nationals to a sweep of the San Diego Padres. Bryce Harper had three hits, three RBIs and two stolen bases on the day.  He had an opportunity to really do some damage in the bottom of the seventh, at bat with the bases loaded and two outs but hit a line drive to the centerfield to end the inning.

Stephen Strasburg picked up the win on a day when he struggled with control in the heat.  He pitched six innings, giving up four runs on seven hits and two walks, striking out nine.  Strasburg also hit three batters on the day on a day that he would need 110 pitches to get through six innings. Alexi Amarista hit a two run homerun for the most significant hit off of Strasburg.  Strasburg limited most of the Padres other scoring came on little dinks and dunks, moving runners around.

The scoring started early for the Nationals with Bryce Harper singling home Denard Span in the bottom of the first inning.  The big inning though was the bottom of the third, where the Nationals scored six runs on Zimmerman’s grand slam and Anthony Rendon hitting a two run homerun, scoring Jayson Werth.  The Nationals would tack on four more in the bottom of the fifth on RBI singles from Rendon and Strasburg, along with a wild pitch that scored Harper and a groundout that brought Werth in to score.

The Padres would make a push to make the game close by scoring three more runs in the seventh and eighth off Craig Stammen.  This is the third outing in a row that Stammen has had difficulty getting outs.  He allowed two runs in the seventh on twelve pitches, all strikes.  He failed to record an out in the eighth before being lifted for Drew Storen, who quickly put the Padres down in order.  Tyler Clippard pitched the ninth to close out the win.

This is the Nationals first sweep of a series since a two game series against the Detroit Tigers back in the second week of May.  The Nationals now take on the Philadelphia Phillies for a four game series.

The Nationals improve to 46-42, moving four games back of the Atlanta Braves, who lost to the Phillies.   The Nationals are now 41-10 in games where they score at least three runs. Additional, it was announced that Ross Detwiler would be placed on the 15-Day DL.

Robert Peterson lives in the Washington DC Metro area and has been covering the Nationals since the team moved to the area in 2005.

Adam Laroche and Bryce Harper lead the Nationals over the Padres 5-4

WP – R. Ohlendorf (2-0) LP – N. Vincent (2-1)

S – R. Soriano (24)

Adam Laroche got the scoring started with a solo homerun in the bottom of the third inning for the Washington Nationals.  Laroche went 2-for-4 for the day but arguably made a much more important contribution with his glove, robbing All-Star Everth Cabrera of a game-tying hit to get the last out with a great diving stop in the top of the ninth.  Bryce Harper, announced as a starter for the All Star game today, also came up big at the plate going 1-for-2, with an RBI in three different at-bats on a walk with the bases loaded in the fourth, a single in the bottom of the fifth and a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the seventh. Harper also had a great diving catch in the outfield that saved a run from scoring.

Denard Span continues to improve his OBP as he went 2-for-3 with a walk. He also stole a base and scored two runs beginning to show what the Nationals expected when they obtained him from the Minnesota Twins before the season.

Jordan Zimmermann was attempting to be the first 13 game winner in the National League and went five and a third innings before being lifted for Ross Ohlendorf. Zimmermann (12-3) gave up three earned runs on five hits and a walk with four strikeouts on the day.  The rumor is that Zimmermann is dealing with tightness in his neck, first noticed in his last start, both of which have been his shortest of the year thus far.  Hopefully it’s nothing serious and Zimmermann can make his next scheduled start before the All Star game.

Ohlendorf had what is probably his worst outing as a National to date, allowing a three run homerun to Jesus Guzman in his first batter.  He clamped down after that and closed out the inning with no more damage and would also pitch the seventh allowing no one else to score.  The Nationals would score two runs in the bottom of the seventh to give Ohlendorf the win.  This is the second time in three games where a reliever gave up a three run homerun to cost a starter a win, only to end up the winning pitcher.

The Padres starter was Jason Marquis, a former National, who pitched six innings giving up three runs on eight hits, three walks and three strikeouts.  He escaped several jams early on, especially in the bottom of the third when the Nationals had the bases loaded with two outs but only managed one run.

Drew Storen had a great outing, retiring the Padres in order on five pitches which had to feel good after two consecutive challenging outings.  Rafael Soriano had to overcome some interesting drama to get his 24th save. Soriano allowed two base runners to advance to second and third with two outs before getting Cabrera to ground out to Laroche.

The Nationals improve to three games over .500 at 45-42, and are now 40-10 in games that they score more than three runs.

Robert Peterson lives in the Washington DC Metro area and has been covering the Nationals since the team moved to the area in 2005.

Wilson Ramos to the rescue, Nationals top the Brewers 8-5 on the 4th of July

WP – D. Storen (3-2) LP – T. Gorzellany (1-1)

S – R. Soriano (22)

Wilson Ramos has been missing from the Washington Nationals lineup since May 16th.  He returned with a bang, hitting a game winning three run homerun in the bottom of the seventh inning along with a two run single in the sixth, giving him 5 RBIs for the day.  Taylor Jordan had a great effort in his pursuit of his first win, pitching five and two thirds innings, giving up two runs on six hits.  He was in line for the win as he left the game, unfortunately the bullpen couldn’t keep the lead.  This is the second solid performance from Jordan since getting called up from AA with Dan Haren on the disabled list.

Tom Gorzellany, a former National, took the loss this Independence Day for the Brewers, as he pitched the sixth and seventh innings, giving up the homerun to Ramos.  He also allowed two runners inherited from Burke Badenhop to score. The Brewers starter, Donovan Hand gave up five runs on five innings pitched before yielding to Badenhop. 

Besides Ramos, who went 3-4 at the plate, Ian Desmond, Adam Laroche and Jayson Werth all had multi-hit games.  The Nationals need to find a way to consistently deliver this kind of performance at the plate to be able to catch the Atlanta Braves in the National League East.  Ian Desmond also stole two bases in this game giving him a team leading 10 stolen bases for the year.

This is the first time in over a month that the Nationals have had what they would consider their whole lineup back for a game, so hopefully with the return of Ramos this team can win more of the games they are supposed to.  It was apparent with today’s performance how much of a difference Ramos is at the plate over Kurt Suzuki. 

The Brewers have consistently fought their way back into games this series, this time coming back from a 5-2 deficit with homeruns from Yuniesky Betancourt and Carlos Gomez off Drew Storen in the seventh inning.   That brought the total runs given up by Storen to seven over the last two innings pitched, compounding the inconsistency from the Nationals bullpen that has plagued them all season.   Ramos came to Storen’s rescue in the bottom of the inning with his homerun to put the Nationals in the lead for good.

Bryce Harper continues to struggle since his return.  His first at bat back from injury was a homerun but Harper has gone 0-for-15 since then.  Opposing pitchers seem to be pitching Harper strictly away, using breaking balls and off speed pitches to keep Harper from pulling the ball.

The win today gave the Nationals a split of this four game series, and brought their season record to 43-42.  The Nationals improve to 38-10 when they score more than three runs.

Robert Peterson lives in the Washington DC Metro area and has been covering the Nationals since the team moved to the area in 2005.

Strasburg gem wasted by bullpen, Washington Nationals lose 4-0

WP – J. Henderson (3-2) LP – D. Storen (2-2)

Stephen Strasburg threw seven strong innings, scattering three hits, and striking out eight.  His record remains at 4-6 but he improves his season ERA to 2.24.  He escaped one jam in the sixth inning, allowing the Milwaukee Brewers to get the bases loaded with only one out, partially due to another atypical error by third baseman Ryan Zimmerman.  Strasburg was able to strike out the next two batters though to end the inning. 

Drew Storen proceeded to implode in the top of the eighth, allowing four runs.  He gave up back to back singles to Logan Schafer and Rickie Weeks before allowing both runners to score on a double by Juan Francisco.  Francisco came in to score on a play ruled a double by Martin Maldonado.  The ball was well hit but Bryce Harper in his second game back from injury should have caught the ball as it tipped off the top of his glove.  Jeff Bianchi singled to left to score Maldonado which ended up being the last run of the night.

The Nationals looked as if they were going to get things started early, as they had two runners in scoring position in the first and another in the second but were unable to capitalize once again.  The see saw nature of the Nationals offense this year was on full display, going from 23 runs in the last two games to a complete shutout.

Wily Peralta pitched an outstanding ballgame for the Brewers, going five and a third innings of shutout pitching before having to leave with an apparent injury sustained throwing a pitch to Ryan Zimmerman. He attempted a second pitch after the initial pain throwing off the mound.  He seemed to have something wrong with his hip but I am sure the team will release details at a later time.  The Brewers bullpen pitched a solid three and two thirds inning to complete the shutout.

The Nationals looked like they might have one last hope of getting back into the game as Ian Desmond and Anthony Rendon singled back to back to lead off the bottom of the ninth inning, but the rally ended there with Kurt Suzuki watching strike three, pinch hitter Roger Bernadina struck out swinging and Denard Span hit a weak line drive to the shortstop.

Span, Rendon and Zimmerman each had two hits apiece in this losing effort but the team couldn’t put the hits together to get anything more done

The Nationals continued their inability to avoid the strikeout themselves, giving eight outs back without putting the ball in play.  Surprisingly the Nationals are only middle of the pack in this category at almost eight per game, not even coming close to the league leading Detroit Tigers who strikeout almost 9.2 times per game.

The Nationals fall to 42-41 overall, and 5-31 in games that they score less than three runs.

Robert Peterson lives in the Washington DC Metro area and has been covering the Nationals since the team moved to the area in 2005.