San Diego is 13-18 heading into Monday’s action while the Cubs are off to a 24-6 start and lead the league in wins as they are certainly living up to the hype surrounding them this season. Once, they hit him. No player since has cracked open baseball orthodoxy like Bonds did, and so no player has dealt with the pressure of batting behind a hitter to be avoided at all costs to such an extreme degree since Alfonzo. He saw 27 pitches.
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“They had a plan”, Harper said. Arrieta struck out eight and yielded one run and six hits over six innings in a win at Washington on June 4.
Harper went 1 for 4 in last weekend’s four-game series with the Cubs. Actually, “a lot” is an understatement – he walked a historic number of times.
Washington plays seven games in the next seven days, starting with three against the Detroit Tigers and then four against the Miami Marlins including a doubleheader on Saturday.
That’s because the Chicago Cubs gave the Nationals star little to hit. Their strategy was a success. Hopefully, the guy behind me can get it done.
“I know that he’s not as hot as he can be coming into this series, but you don’t want to get him hot”, Maddon said. “To be honest, I thought I was going to be here my whole career”, said Zimmermann, who was drafted by the Nationals, “and it just didn’t work out”.
Detroit might not fare any better against Joe Ross, who continues to impress. It is unknown how much money was in the jar and if the money in the jar was Harper’s money.
“It takes patience on Bryce’s part not to go out of the zone, ” Nationals manager Dusty Baker said.
“I don’t do that, ” he said. “We just have to go back to the drawing board and keep on fighting”.
Wood, now in the game, loaded the bases with two out in the 12th, one of those on Harper’s final walk of the day, but got out of the inning on a grounder to third on which Baez made another of what’s becoming his style: a running stop and accurate throw to first base, this one to nail Zimmerman. “I don’t know. I’d rather pitch to somebody who is the best _ the reigning N.L. MVP, and feel good about myself”.
After Sunday’s extra-innings loss to the Cubs in Chicago, Harper reportedly gave a glass jar full of money to a homeless woman sitting across Sheffield Ave. outside Wrigley Field. While the Cubs were contending with the Nationals, the Pirates moved on to a series with yet another NL Central contender, the St. Louis Cardinals. He scored three times in four games. With one out and no one on base, the 23-year-old Puerto Rico native blasted a ball deep into the bleachers in left center, giving Chicago the 4-3 victory.
“It takes time”, said Harper, said who now is batting.265 with 10 homers, .432 on-base percentage and 1.064 OPS.
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Tyler Duffey became the first Twins pitcher in almost four years to strike out four batters in an inning, but Avisail Garcia reached on a wild pitch during the seventh and scored on Dioner Navarro’s double. Still, Harper isn’t tempted.
