After an incredible afternoon on Saturday in which Max Scherzer threw a no-hitter, the Washington Nationals looked to get a sweep over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Father's Day at Nationals Park. Gio Gonzalez took the mound for Washington and he threw seven scoreless innings.
The Nats bats only scored in the first inning but that was all they needed. Bryce Harper got it started with a two-run shot to right field. A Jose Lobaton RBI single made it 3-0. Two batters later, Michael Taylor singled in Lobaton while Ian Desmond advanced to third. Then with Gonzalez batting, a throwing error by Pirates pitcher Charlie Morton to first base on a pickoff attempt scored Desmond, 5-0. Gio followed by helping his own cause with a double down the right field line to score Taylor. Then Yunel Escobar hit a two run homer just over the left field wall to make it 9-0. All nine hitters in the Nats lineup got an at-bat that first inning. Those nine runs were the most runs scored in an inning in team history.
"I like the way guys were aggressive offensively early," said Nats Manager Matt Williams, "Guys are starting to get their legs back a little bit. We're using the base paths a little more. That's certainly part of our equation."
In the second inning, the villain Jose Tabata who leaned into a pitch to spoil Scherzer's chance at a perfect game the day before came up to the plate. When they announced his name, the Nats Park crowd showered him with boos. It was so hostile that Nats broadcaster Bob Carpenter said, "No Met has been booed this loud, no Brave has been booed this loud, not even ARod who was here a few weeks ago was booed this loud." Those boos turned to cheers briefly as Gonzalez forced him to ground out to first, then he got booed all the way to the dugout.
The Nats would hang on for the 9-2 victory sweeping the Pirates after Pittsburgh came into this series winners of eight in a row. The Nats are now ahead of the Mets 1.5 games in the NL East Standings. "We just played great ball and had some great pitching this weekend. If we can do that, we'd win 162 games. We'll go through times where we've had ups and downs in this game where the ball just didn't fall our way. But we had a great weekend. Hopefully we can take this into next week and stay in first place," said Bryce Harper.
The Nats have a day off on Monday before the Braves head into The District for a three game set beginning on Tuesday night.
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