For the second night in a row the Padres were out pitched as they fell to the Nationals tonight 4-1. It was supposed to be the battle of the Titans on the mound in game three between two hard throwing, and hard nosed competitors. The anticipation of a tough pitcher’s duel evaporated quickly though as one of the combatatnt’s struggle in the first, and the Friars now trail the series 2-1.
Cashner simply made too many location mistakes in the first inning and allowed 3 runs to score. Getting ahead was not the problem but putting guys away was, as three of the four hits in the inning came on two-strike counts. Three runs doesn’t sound like a back breaker but against Shcerzer tonight it was.
The veteran right hander who the Nats signed in the off season for $210M showed why he was given the largest contract ever for a right handed pitcher by shutting down the Friars of seven innings. He retired the first 10 batter he faced, 5 on strikeouts using his fastball moment and command, and nasty off speed pitches. The Pads did threaten in the fourth loading the bases, but couldn’t capitalize. They put runners in scoring position in the 6th and 7th as well, but again could not push a man across.
The Nats plated another run off Cash in the 4th, with the help of an error by Cashnser himself, and that would be all their scoring for the night with the bullpen shutting them down from the 7th on. The Pads finally broke up the shutout in the 9th with an Amarista RBI 1B. Too little too late though as Stroren was called in to convert the 2-out, tying runner on deck Save, which he did for his 11th of the year.
Too little Cashner early, and too much Scherzer throughout find the Padres needing a win tomorrow to settle for a split after taking the series opener.
A nugget of good news today was that Will Myers took some grounders today before BP and appeared to be moving his injured left wrist no problem. His prognosis was for a return to the lineup on Tuesday, and if there are no setbacks that may actually happen.
Also I want to thank The Madres for inviting me to speak at their luncheon today, along with Padre Yangervis Solarte. It was a lot of fun with a great group of people, and my thanks go out to each of them for inviting me to participate, and for all they do to support Padres baseball!
Kennedy vs. Strasburg tomorrow. Another good match up with the fist pitch being fired at 1:10. Look forward to you joining Td Leitner and me for all the action on the Mighty 1090.
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