Starter goes six string innings in 4-3 win over New York
It appears to be Jordan Zimmermann’s lot in life.
He has been the Nationals’ best pitcher overall this season – yes, above and beyond even Stephen Strasburg and Gio Gonzalez. But when Zimmermann piles up one “zero” after another in the runs column, his teammates all too often do the same.
It happened again on Wednesday night at Nationals Park. Zimmermann kept the New York Mets off the boards for six innings and still found his team in a scoreless tie. But this time they came through for him as Adam LaRoche blasted a two-run homer in the bottom of the sixth and Steve Lombardozzi added a two-run double in the seventh to help Washington to a 4-3 victory.
It was the seventh time Zimmermann has pitched into the fifth inning this year without a single run scored for him. He has pitched into the sixth inning in every single start. It is a remarkable stretch of consistency, but one that hasn’t landed him the record he deserves.
“We’ve been rough on him. We’ve had some opportunities a lot and haven’t got them done, haven’t got guys in,” LaRoche said. “He went and did what he does. What he’s been doing all year. It’s amazing. He works quick, lot of strikes. He’s a battler out there and it was nice to put some runs up.”
Zimmermann improved to 7-6 on the season, but his ERA dropped to 2.35. That ranks sixth among all big-league starting pitchers – a number that is even leaving Strasburg (2.66) and Gonzalez (2.93) in the dust. The relief in the dugout was palpable as LaRoche’s opposite-field homer just cleared the wall in left-center against Mets starter Chris Young (2-4, 4.11 ERA). They were the only two he allowed in a hard-luck defeat. Zimmermann said he owed LaRoche a steak dinner – an offer the first baseman said he’d happily accept.
“I felt great all night,” Zimmermann said. “I had a good curveball and a good slider tonight, and when I’ve got those two, I’ve told you in previous starts, it’s a lot of fun going out there to pitch. You know, tonight was one of those nights.”
New York tried to make it interesting. Andres Torres delivered an RBI single in the seventh inning off reliever Tom Gorzelanny to cut the lead to 2-1. Lombardozzi’s shot off the right-field wall with two down in the bottom of that frame gave Washington a comfortable cushion at 4-1. But in the bottom of the ninth closer Tyler Clippard struggled again. He allowed home runs to both David Wright and Jason Bay – the latter smacking off the foul pole in left field – to cut the advantage to just one.
But Clippard got pinch hitter Jordany Valdespin to strike out swinging to end it and hand his club its first series win of the second half. That lifted the Nats (53-36) to 17 games over .500 for the first time all season and gave Zimmermann a well-deserved victory.
“He’s a man out there. No doubt about it. He has a great presence. He knows what he wants to do,” Washington manager Davey Johnson said. “There’s no muss, no fuss…He goes right after them. He had one little spell where I thought he was rushing during the year. He got a little too strong, rushing to get underneath the slider, but not too much anymore. He’s got a nice bite on him.”
