Pitching for the Nationals on Wednesday will be Stephen Strasburg.
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Of course, Carrasco would have fared better if a double play was turned in the second inning, but it wasn’t in what is becoming a concern with the Tribe’s defense. With runners at second and third and two outs, Strasburg retired Davis on a groundout to end that threat.Naquin reached on a leadoff single in the sixth, but Strasburg retired the next three batters in order.Washington scored its final run in the seventh inning off reliever Dan Otero. Tyler Naquin had the other hit off Strasburg as well as an RBI single in the ninth.
He’s 17-1 in his last 18 starts going back to a year ago. In two career starts vs. the Indians he is 1-1 with a 1.74 ERA.
That was the fate Wednesday afternoon at Progressive Field for the Indians, who lost 4-1 to Strasburg and the Washington Nationals to prevent them from earning a sweep in the two-game interleague series. He still managed to strike out 10 in defeat. “He has a lot of weapons”. “He can throw the ball by you, fastball on both sides of the plate”. But that momentum was halted against Strasburg, who threw seven scoreless innings, allowed only three hits and struck out seven.
Robbie Ross Jr. (1-2) got the loss. The first-place Nationals can not afford to lose games to other first-place teams like these, not now, and certainly not in October. He had back-to-back walks from Jayson Werth and Anthony Rendon. Turner did not. By the time Kipnis threw, Turner was almost to first base. “He won with a walk. I threw every pitch and he hit (fouled off) everything”.
It’s the second time in the last four games that the tandem of Lindor and Kipnis have failed to turn a double play at critical time. The Indians are 0-3 in those games.
Mike Napoli then grounded into a double play, but Kipnis scored on the play to make it 5-4. “I think he was a little excited having to pitch against Strasburg, not that he has to hit against him, but it’s nice to see if you can match up”.
PITTSBURGH – Seattle ace Felix Hernandez settled down after a shaky start and picked up his first victory in more than two months.
The Indians could do nothing with Strasburg. Ramirez, who came into the game in an 11-for-53 (.208) skid, doubled off the right field wall with one out in the second.
Ramirez singled with two out in the fourth.
Freddie Freeman, Braves: Falling a triple shy of his second cycle of the season, Freeman went 4-for-4 with a season-high five RBIs, a walk and a stolen base in a 9-7 win over the Twins. After just six games there in the minor leagues, the Nationals threw Trea Turner into center field Tuesday night. A scoring change from Tuesday’s game extended Nationals 2B Daniel Murphy’s hitting streak to 12 games.
Gyorko connected for the sixth time in eight games, giving him 13 this season. He’s now allowed seven runs in his last two appearances, a fact that surely stings more considering the Nats were among the runners up for Aroldis Chapman when he was dealt to the Cubs. Lindor quickly corralled the chopper and flipped it to Jason Kipnis, who couldn’t handle the transfer, allowing the ball to drop to the clay.
The Nationals moved Zimmerman to third on a sacrifice bunt by Espinoza and Revere’s grounder to second.
Washington got that run back in the ninth inning, which began with a two-base error by third baseman Juan Uribe, his second error of the game, which put Rendon at second.
SAN FRANCISCO – Jay Bruce belted a solo home run off Madison Bumgarner to snap a tie in the seventh inning to lift the Reds in the finale of a three-game series. He struck out eight and walked one.
The Cleveland Indians were able to maintain their 5 1/2-game edge in the American League Central by staging a late rally against a fellow division leader.
Indians right-hander Danny Salazar walked Turner to lead off the game.
In their last five games, the Indians have gone 1-4 against the AL East-leading Orioles and the NL East-leading Nationals. The Tribe is 1-2 against the Rangers. The Indians had been on the road since then because of the All-Star break and the Republican National Convention. The Indians’ attendance is 830,933 for 44 dates.
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First pitch was at 12:10 p.m. with a temperature of 83 degrees.
