Nats 8, Astros 4
The Nationals needed a game like this and they finally got one, rallying from a 3-0 deficit in the first inning to beat the Houston Astros. Washington left-hander John Lannan has struggled in his young big-league career with starts often getting submarined by bad innings early in games. It could have happened again on Tuesday night. Check out our game story to see how he avoided it and what that means for the 25-year-old.
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But there were other happy storylines. How about Tyler Clippard earning his big-league best – for a reliever – 10th win of the year and becoming the first Washington reliever to ever strike out 100 batters in a season. That includes the history of the Senators, too – about 76 years of baseball in all.
“It’s humbling,” Clippard said. “It’s one of those things I’ve gotten used a lot this year, which I’ve been loving to get in there as much as I can and help contribute as much as I can. And here we are.”
Clippard has more strikeouts than any pitcher – starter or reliever – since baseball returned to the District in 2005.
“It’s a nice thing to have on your resume. Not something I ever set out to do, one of those things that just happened,” Clippard said. “I think that’s the way it could have happened – go out there every day and get it done and I did that.”
Washington improved to 63-88. Why is that important? Well, it means the team wont lose 100 games for the first time since 2007. Few players in the locker room after the game had any notion they had just avoided 100 losses. No one really cared. A bad season is a bad season, after all. In this sport there are only varying degrees of ineptitude.
“It’s a non-successful season regardless if it’s 100 or 95 or 90 losses,” Clippard said. “It doesn’t matter. If you’re in last it’s not good. So it has no significance really.”
But they are four games better than the 2008 and 2009 teams. And 70 wins is still an outside possibility with 11 games remaining to them this year. Even a last-place team has to maintain goals, no matter how bad the season’s gone.
“It’s cool just to see progress,” Lannan said. “It’s progressing. Our bullpen has done such a great job. We’ve got guys stepping up and our starting rotation is starting to get its form. So just a little bit of improvement. We’re still a young team. We’re going through some growing pains and it’s not going top happen overnight. These little accomplishments – not getting 100 losses – is pretty big for us.”
Nats Notes
» Another small crowd at National Park, but at least this one wasn’t a record-low like Monday’s 10,999. Tuesday’s game drew 11,893.
» The Nats snapped a four-game losing streak with the victory. They had also lost six in a row at home.
» Outfielder Roger Bernadina was 2-for-4 with a double, two runs scored and a stolen base. He snapped an 8-for-55 slump that had begun to erode the gains made by the 26-year-old this season.
» Houston starter J.A. Happ allowed just three hits and struck out six in six innings. He didn’t give up a hit until the fifth. Michael Morse led off that frame with a single.
» Adam Dunn was 1-for-3 with an RBI. He now has 96 on the season. He also walked twice. Ryan Zimmerman was 2-for-5 with a double and an RBI. It was his 31st double and 85th RBI.
» Nats closer Drew Storen did struggle again. After blowing a three-run lead in the ninth inning on Sunday in Philadelphia, he gave up a solo homer to Houston’s Chris Johnson in the ninth and walked a batter. Storen recorded two outs, but was pulled by manager Jim Riggleman after four batters and 21 pitches.
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