The Washington Nationals catcher then dropped the piece of wood once he connected on Robbie Ray’s 85-mph slider and admired the blast it produced as he coolly walked five steps out of the batter’s box before beginning his trot. He set career-highs in runs (eight), earned runs (seven) and hits (12) allowed.
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“I worked a lot to try to stay patient and focused at the plate, especially with runners in scoring position”, Ramos said through a translator. “I was trying to pull it off me. I want to help the team every way possible”. Baker said Zimmerman could be available as a defensive replacement late in the game – he took groundballs during batting practice – but his services weren’t required. “I threw the ball, they hit the ball and they hit it where guys weren’t”.
The Nationals jumped on Bradley in the first inning, loading the bases with a one-out infield single by Jayson Werth and walks to Harper and Murphy. Washington recorded its fifth win in seven games.
The big blow this time came from Wilson Ramos, who lifted his average to.331 with two hits, including a three-run homer that broke a tie in the fifth inning. He struck out six and walked two. The Diamondbacks are 6-21 in their last 27 Wednesday games and 8-3 in Godleys last 11 starts. The ball bounced off the top of the left field fence and into the Arizona bullpen.
Yasmany Tomas homered for the Diamondbacks, his 18th. He had two-homer games in Cincinnati and Milwaukee on the trip and has 14 of his 17 homers on the road this season. Rookie Wilmer Difo, a last-minute substitution for Harper, went 3-for-5 with an RBI.
“It was a big night for him, a big night for us”, Washington manager Dusty Baker said of Difo. Trea Turner moved from second base to center and Difo started at second after playing mostly shortstop in the minors leagues this year.
Combined with their lopsided win in Monday’s series opener, the Nationals have now outscored Arizona 24-5 over the last two nights, putting their offensive struggles from the weekend in San Francisco in the rearview mirror.
Up next: The Nats aim for a three-game sweep of the Diamondbacks with a 3:40 p.m. first pitch in the finale on Wednesday. The 23-year-old Oklahoma native won for the first time since June 19 and has allowed three or fewer runs in seven of his last eight turns.
[LA Times] Puig’s time with Dodgers always seemed destined to end badly – Puig was always a step ahead of management, which didn’t know what to make of him. “He feels good about himself and I can’t imagine not having Ramos because he’s figured it out”. “It was down. I don’t even think it was a strike. He kind of reached out and flipped it”, Ray said. He also made a hard catch look easy in the third inning on a long flyball hit by Lamb. “It is just the way it is”.
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Take, for example, Monday night’s series-opening loss to the Washington Nationals: Arizona sent six pitchers to the mound, two of whom gave up at least five runs, and the starter, Archie Bradley, didn’t make it through the fourth inning. The 2015 NL MVP, Harper is 7-for-59 since July 10. A run came home, but it helped limit the damage in what could have been a disaster of an inning for Roark. Pollock hasn’t played since fracturing his right elbow three days before the start of the regular season.
