We’ve seen this before: Tim Redding, throwing a fastball with plenty of bite, cruises through the first five innings of a game and looks commanding, even borderline dominating, as he makes do with the scant lead his team has provided him. It happened plenty of times with the Nationals last year. Today, Washington is hoping the story ends the same way it did so many times when Redding was with the Nationals last year.
Redding has allowed one hit through five innings—a bunt single to Willie Harris—and has struck out two. But as the Nationals well know, the sixth inning was where he so often ran into trouble last year. His batting average against in that inning was .315, compared to .225 in the fifth, and it contributed heavily to his two-month streak of no decisions last year.
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So far, though, Redding has been stellar against the Nationals. John Lannan has kept up, only allowing three hits and a run, which came on Daniel Murphy’s single in the second inning.
Heading toward the sixth, we’ll see if Redding follows the same
