Comprehensive coverage of Washington, D.C. sports by local writers
Jordan Zimmermann had an uncharacteristically poor outing and the Washington Nationals fell to the Chicago Cubs 6-3, losing three of four to the Cubs at home over the weekend and eight of their last 10 games.
Zimmermann allowed four earned runs on a whopping 10 hits and two walks over five innings, striking out three. The Cubs two, three, five six and seven hitters all had multi-hit games while their cleanup hitter, Miguel Montero, walked twice. [Read more…]
The Washington Nationals fells 4-2 against the Chicago Cubs on Saturday afternoon in front of 38,214 baseball fans at Nationals Park in D.C. Chicago’s right-handed starting pitcher Jason Hammel out dueled recent Nats call-up, right-handed pitcher Joe Ross, who was subjected to a mostly quiet Washington offense throughout the day’s contest. [Read more…]
Danny Espinosa’s renaissance continued, as he went 2 for 4 with a home and three driven in and the Washington Nationals topped the Chicago Cubs 7-5 Friday at Nationals Park.
Espinosa’s three-run homer in teh second off Cubs starter Tsuyoshi Wada was his seventh of the season. Espinosa, who figured to lose playing time with the activation of Anthony Rendon this week, was back in the starting lineup at second, with Rendon sliding over to third, as Yunel Escobar missed the game with a wrist injury sustained Thursday night on a checked swing. [Read more…]
The last time the Cubs and Nationals met both teams were hot, and the series felt like a showcase of talent. This one has more of the feel of a showdown, with both teams struggling in the past week. Both teams begin this four game series losers of six out of ten.
The Nationals (29-24) are clinging to a half-game lead over the Mets, who dropped two out of three in San Diego and open up a series with the Diamondbacks tonight. The Cubs (27-24) are coming off a series where they won the first game of a three-game series with the Marlins and then dropped two straight in Miami. [Read more…]
Starting pitcher Max Scherzer led the Washington Nationals to a 3-0 win over the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field on Wednesday night pitching seven strong innings, backed by a pair of home runs and a pair of defensive errors made by the Cubs.
Scherzer gave up five hits and one walk while striking out thirteen batters. He threw 108 pitches and 72 strikes. [Read more…]
CUBS WIN ON WALK-OFF DOUBLE AFTER COSTLY DESMOND ERROR IN NINTH
The Washington Nationals fell 3-2 to the Chicago Cubs Tuesday night as second baseman Addison Russell hit his first career walk-off with a double against left-handed reliever Matt Grace, wasting a solid seven innings pitched by Jordan Zimmermann.
Despite a shaky opening with Zimmermann giving up a lead-off home run to Cubs outfielder Dexter Fowler to start the game, the right-handed starter struck out five batters and only surrendered that one run while walking two. Zimmermann regained his dominance and maintained his momentum against Chicago’s offense after giving up that initial run in the first. He even tallied three strikeouts against the top the Cubs’ order in the fifth inning before finishing out the seventh inning with a Fowler strikeout. [Read more…]
The Nationals (26-18) are living up to their pre-season hype as the best team in the National League. After taking two out of three against Philadelphia this weekend the Nationals are a half-game behind the Dodgers and two games behind the Cardinals as far as tops in the National League.
Just three and a half games behind the Cardinals, though, are the Cubs (24-19), who might have been the most talked about team coming into this season. The Cubs signed Jon Lester to add a veteran pitching presence to a young core and have hit their stride in recent weeks, showing that they’ll be an exciting team to watch for the rest of 2015…and probably for many more years to come. [Read more…]
Dave Nichols of District Sports Page and Patrick Reddington and “Doghouse” of Federal Baseball discuss the Washington Nationals 2-1 win over the Chicago Cubs to win the season series.
Since moving back to his more familiar third base, Ryan Zimmerman has coincidentally also been on a tear at the plate. The run continued Sunday, as his eighth inning single scored Denard Span, lifting the Washington Nationals to a 2-1 win over the Chicago Cubs before 32,941 at sun-drenched Nationals Park.
Zimmerman is now 11-for-21 with six RBIs since Bryce Harper returned to the lineup and Zimmerman re-took his spot at third base.
Span led off the eighth inning with a hustle double to right field. After Anthony Rendon lined out and Jayson Werth struck out against Cubs reliever Pedro Strop (L, 1-4, 3.03), Adam LaRoche was intentionally walked, bringing up Zimmerman. The Nats’ veteran laced a 1-1 slider to left field which easily scored Span. LaRoche drew the cutoff throw away from the plate and was tagged out between second and third for the final out of the inning.
Rafael Soriano pitched an eventless 1-2-3 inning in the ninth for his 21st save of the season.
Zimmerman’s heroics made a winner of Tyler Clippard, who put his first two runners on, then wiggled out of the jam to pitch a scoreless top of the eighth.
Jordan Zimmermann turned in another exemplary start for the Nats (48-39). The stoic righty gave up no runs on seven hits and one walk over six innings, striking out five.
The Cubs(38-48) managed their lone run off Drew Storen in the seventh, as the reliever gave up two hits and a walk in two-thirds of an inning. Jerry Blevins struck out Luis Valbuena with runners on to keep the game tied at that point.
The Nats scored their first run in the first inning off Cubs starter Jake Arrieta. Span doubled, went to third on Rendon’s groundout and scored on Werth’s hard-hit grounder to third.
The Nats start a two-game series with the Baltimore Orioles on Monday. Stephen Strasburg (7-6, 3.53) hosts Chris Tillman (7-4, 4.21) at 7:05 pm.
The weather was perfect, the stands were full and everyone was in a mood for celebrating. Unfortunately, the play on the field didn’t live up to the moment.
The Washington Nationals offense sputtered once again, shut down this time by Chicago Cubs right-hander Jason Hammel, as the Nats fell to the Cubbies 7-2 in the Independence Day matinee, before 41,274 red, white and blue clad fans as Nationals Park.
Nats’ starter Tanner Roark gave up single runs in each of the first three innings, while the Nats (46-39) mustered a single safety, on Jayson Werth’s solo home run — his eighth of the year — in the bottom of the first against Hammel, who was traded by the Cubs after the game as part of a mega-deal to the Oakland A’s.
Hammel bested the Nats for six innings, allowing just five hits and two walks, striking out seven. Washington picked up its second run in the seventh inning on a leadoff double by Anthony Rendon and a one-out single from Wilson Ramos, to cut the score to 4-2.
But that’s as close as the Nats got. Chicago added three more runs in the top of the ninth off Ross Detwiler, Aaron Barrett and Jerry Blevins.
The second game of the three-game series is Saturday at 4:05 pm. Gio Gonzalez (5-4, 3.93) hosts Carlos Villaneuva (4-5, 5.91).