Diamondbacks 4, Nationals 2
The bats struggled again on Wednesday night as the Arizona Diamondbacks did what they do best – shut down the opposing lineup and scratch out enough runs to win. This time it was Daniel Hudson tossing a gem for 8 2/3 innings against the Nats, who finally got to him in the ninth with a pair of solo home runs from Laynce Nix and Jonny Gomes. Wasn’t enough, though, as you can read in our game story here.
“Cutter, slider, change, both sides of the plate,” Gomes said, describing how Hudson worked. “We tried to work him, but he just made pitches when he had to.”
Nix had two hits and Ian Desmond had three as he continues to swing a hot bat. Desmond is 16-for-49 (.340 batting average) since Aug. 11, including seven multi-hit games. But Washington didn’t take advantage in the second when Michael Morse and Danny Espinosa both singled to lead off the inning. A one-out base hit in the third by Desmond was the last Nats’ batter to reach until Nix doubled in the seventh with two down. Hudson was that good.
“In and out with three different pitches and he didn’t make any mistakes over the middle of the plate,” Zimmerman said. “When you do that you’re going to have a lot of success.”
Tough night for Livan Hernandez, who pitched well. The Diamondbacks are an aggressive group. Justin Upton saw a brief bobble from Gomes fielding a fourth-inning double in left field. That was all he needed to score all the way from first base. That hit was by Chris Young. Lyle Overbay followed with an RBI single. Otherwise, Hernandez was excellent.
“I don’t think about [lack of run support]. I’m not that kind of guy,” Hernandez said. “I go and try to do my job, try to do my best. Always when I go on the mound I try to give the chance to my team to win. This is what I do. Sometimes it don’t happen the way you want it, but you got to try.”
The Nats were without Jayson Werth, who sat with a strained groin muscle. He was available to pinch hit, according to manager Davey Johnson, but no word on if he’ll be able to go in the series finale Thursday. Meanwhile, Stephen Strasburg is headed to Triple-A Syracuse on Thursday to prepare for his fifth rehab start. That will be Saturday night against Rochester. Strasburg had to take batting practice on Wednesday because for the first time in a rehab start he’ll need to hit this weekend.
In other injury news, catcher Ivan Rodriguez (strained right oblique) will again attempt to take batting practice before Thursday’s game. If all goes well he can go on a rehab assignment and serve as the designated hitter, according to Johnson. Either way, Rodriguez won’t be back with the Nats until major-league rosters expand Sept. 1. Rodriguez has been out since early July and – as Johnson and even his agent, Scott Boras, have said – has pushed himself too often, suffering one setback after another. We’ll see how his latest try goes.
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