The Nationals won the rubber match on Sunday afternoon, beating the New York Mets on a walk-off chopper up the middle by Ian Desmond.
A major play occurred in the top of the third inning as the Mets had the bases loaded with one out, and third baseman David Wright hit a fly ball to Nats’ right fielder Jayson Werth. Werth caught the lazy fly ball and fired home where it was cut off in front of the pitcher’s mound by first baseman Michael Morse, who then threw to first to get Daniel Murphy, who had been breaking for second to end the inning. Things could have gotten out of control, and the base running mistake would come back to hurt the Mets.
There was not a lot of offense early on in the game, as the first runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. Ian Desmond, Ryan Zimmerman and Michael Morse hit back-to-back-to-back doubles to put the Nationals up 2-0.
“We should have gotten more,” Nats’ Manager Davey Johnson said. “We just kind of fizzled at the end. We’ve got some good hitters and they seem to be warming up. I think these last couple of months are going to be good.”
The Nats pitching staff did a good job of handling New York’s bats, except for one guy. Scott Hairston, whose brother Jerry was traded from the Nationals to the Milwaukee Brewers on Saturday, hit a pinch-hit solo home run to make it a 2-1 game in the top of the seventh. It was his sixth homer of the season and sixth pinch-hit home run of his career. Hairston then tied the game with two outs in the ninth with his second solo shot of the game to tie the game at two.
But the game would not make it into extra innings as Nats’ catcher led off the bottom of the ninth with a single to right. Mets’ reliever Bobby Parnell then hit Rick Ankiel to make it first and second with no outs. Two batters later, after a failed sacrifice bunt by center fielder Brian Bixler, his second terrible bunt of the game, Ankiel and Bixler moved up on a wild pitch. Desmond then hit an infield single to second to end the game.
Though they won this series, it is clear that the postseason is not in the team’s immediate future. With that in mind, Johnson announced that young lefty Ross Detwiler will be joining the rotation, while veteran lefty Tom Gorzelanny will be moved to the bullpen.
“He’s a good young arm. He’s been pitching awfully good,” Johnson said. “I’m giving him an opportunity to go out and pitch.”
