Do they start one of the best pitchers in the game on short rest Tuesday, after he had to fight his way through five innings in a Game 1 victory Friday?
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(AP Photo/Jae C. Hong).
Still, the game had the feel of a Washington surrender, facing a 2-0 deficit in the best-of-five series, heading out to Los Angeles for Game 3 Monday.
(AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill).
The wind was whistling in from left field at the start of Sunday’s game between the Nationals and Los Angeles Dodgers, and Washington catcher Jose Lobaton pointed this out to the home plate umpire.
The Nationals get RBI hits from Bryce Harper and Jayson Werth and a two-run bomb from Anthony Rendon to cap a big third inning. Holding a tenuous one-run lead into the ninth inning, they erupted for four more against closer Kenley Jansen, who was greeted and rattled by Jayson Werth’s mammoth home run.
The winners of the series will face either the Chicago Cubs or San Francisco Giants for a World Series berth. WALK-OFFS1. Nationals SS Danny Espinosa is 0-for 7 with six strikeouts in the series but has been hit by a pitch three times. 2.
If Washington’s rotation clicks during the postseason, this could be a tough team to beat.
In the fifth, the Dodgers clawed back into the game.
Ruiz delivered a two-run pinch-homer with one out in the fifth to cut the gap to 4-3. Sammy Solis got the win, but he did an outstanding job. The score stayed there until Werth crushed a 450-foot shot leading off the top of the ninth. He was hitless with two walks Monday, hitting a sacrifice fly in the sixth with two on instead of the three-run homer the Fenway Park crowd wanted.
Jansen, the team’s all-time saves leader, was yanked.
Where: Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles, Calif.
Kenta Maeda made his Major League Baseball postseason debut and melted down under the bright lights of the playoffs after he allowed four runs in the third inning.
The contest was postponed from Saturday, so the teams will have a quick turnaround to game three in Los Angeles today.
Maeda found trouble right away against the Nats. However, Maeda fanned Ryan Zimmerman to end the threat.
Los Angeles Dodgers’ Corey Seager watches his RBI-double during the first inning in Game 3 of baseball’s National League Division Series against the Washington Nationals in Los Angeles, Monday, Oct. 10, 2016.
Maeda retired the side in the second, striking out two, before wilting in the third.
Fellow lefty Oliver Perez then faced two batters in the seventh and allowed one hit. Werth drove him home with a double down the right field line, Turner narrowly sliding across the plate ahead of the throw. He couldn’t navigate the Dodgers’ lineup the second time through and was knocked out by Carlos Ruiz’s pinch-hit homer.
NOTES: The Nationals dropped all three of their regular-season game at Dodger Stadium in June.
In seven postseason games against the Dodgers, Murphy is 11-for-27 (.408) with three home runs and five RBIs. Game 4 on Tuesday is another daytime start.
Not active for this series are left-hander Brett Anderson, who is being paid $15.8 million this season; left-hander Scott Kazmir, who is getting $11 million in the first year of a three-year, $48-million deal; and right-hander Brandon McCarthy, who is receiving $11 million in the second year of a four-year, $48-million deal.
“Mike [Rizzo, Nationals general manage] and I were just talking about that”, Washington manager Dusty Baker said after Monday’s game. “But I know that there’s no quit in our guys”. If somebody calls me Johnnie B., it kind of gets my attention. (General manager) Mike (Rizzo) and I were just talking about that.
Maeda also was the only Dodger to make every start. All told, Dodgers starters have combined for just 12 1/3 innings this series; Nationals starters have logged just 14 2/3. The 37-year-old justified the trade when he hit a two-run home run to bring Los Angeles within a run.
But it will mean they are one win closer to advancing than the Dodgers.
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Nationals starter Gonzalez would not be included in that company.
