Independent voices from the TWT Communities
Corey Kluber pitched eight shutout innings and the Cleveland Indians spoiled Stephen Strasburg's return with a 2-0 win over the Washington Nationals on Sunday.
Major League Baseball spent Sunday awash in blue as it celebrated Father's Day by using the day to bring awareness to prostate cancer. And spurred by the annual day to celebrate Dad, a few Nationals players were kind enough to share some of their favorite memories of their fathers.
Two pitches after his foul popup fell between Nick Swisher and second baseman Jason Kipnis, Rendon homered into the Nationals' bullpen off Vinnie Pestano (1-2) to stun the Indians and the crowd of 33,307.
With runners on second and third and one out, Jason Kipnis hit a hard ground ball to the right side. First baseman Adam LaRoche made a diving backhanded stop and fired a throw to catcher Kurt Suzuki, but Drew Stubbs slid in with the winning run.
The best time to ask a clubhouse attendant to grab a couple of Big Macs from the McDonald's up South Capitol Street from Nationals Park is not when the clubhouse chef is within earshot. "Are you crazy?" Sultani remembered telling the attendant. "Do not go get him that burger."
Nats' 3-4-5 hitters combined to go 2 for 15, as Washington failed to score in the final six innings.
More than two months into the season, the Nationals finally placed Danny Espinosa on the disabled list Tuesday. It was one of a flurry of moves the team needed to make, mostly with its pitching staff, as it attempts to regain some of its luster that's been lost in a 28-29 start.
This time last year, the Nationals were 34-23, hardly having looked back after a 14-4 start to the season and on their way to a major league-best 98 wins. This year, despite the predictions and the expectations, the Nationals have not performed up to the standard they set in 2012.
An approaching storm was a fitting scene for the Nationals, who fell 6-3 in the finale of this three-game series, as they dropped below .500 for the first time since April. The Braves, who've now beaten the Nationals in seven of the teams' 10 meetings, are 6 ½ games ahead of them in the National League East standings.
Forty-four games into the 2013 campaign, the Nationals have never overcome more than a two-run deficit. As the Padres' assault continued to mount on Sunday, the Nationals needed plenty more than two.
The Nationals' victory over the Tigers on Thursday was their sixth in the past seven games as they improved to 19-15.
The Nationals' slow offensive start has been concerning to some, worrisome to others and downright nerve-fraying to certain factions of the fanbase. For plenty, it's been maddening to watch them strike out, swinging or looking, so often. To see them come up small in large situations. To hit the ball on the screws, and right at a waiting fielder.
Tyler Moore hit a three-run homer and Danny Espinosa homered and drove in three runs, leading the Washington Nationals over the Pittsburgh Pirates 6-2 Sunday.
Stephen Strasburg struck out eight in seven innings and the Washington Nationals won a game he started for the first time since Opening Day by beating the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-4 Saturday.
Adam LaRoche enters the Nationals' opener of a four-game series with the Braves on Monday mired in the longest hitless streak of his career. A drought that has spanned 26 consecutive at-bats and seven entire games has left him frustrated and searching for an answer.
"I don't like it when we beat ourselves," LaRoche said. "We should have had an easy four runs on the board with the opportunities we had. It seems like we get one or two chances every game where we don't put it in play or hit it to the wrong spot. I wish we had a solid answer for why it keeps happening."
Nats can't capitalize on multiple chances, lose to Indians →
"Our whole life was baseball. We had a batting cage in our backyard in Texas, outside of Houston, and he'd come out there and throw to use for hours. Hours. And then as we got older he'd say 'All right, I'm going to throw to you guys. If you pull one ball, if you hit one ball on this side of me, we're done.'
Baseball: A lasting bond between fathers and sons - and daughters →
