The Washington Nationals split two games over the past two days with the San Diego Padres. The Nationals won on Wednesday night 6-4 but fell on Thursday 5-2. Taking these games into account the Nationals are now 23-32 this season.
Odalis Perez started for Washington on Wednesday and was able to pick up the victory to up his record to 2-4 on the season. Perez threw 6.1 innings and gave up three runs to the Padres line up. Jon Rauch threw a perfect ninth, with two strike outs, to pick up his 11th save of the season, good for sixth in the National League. John Lannan started for the Nationals on Thursday and was very sharp. He threw six innings, giving up two runs while striking out five. His performance resulted in a no-decision. Saul Rivera came on after Lannan and gave up two runs in 1.1 innings and picked up his third loss of the season.
Catcher Jesus Flores led the offensive charge on Wednesday for the Nationals. Flores went 2-4 with 4 RBI, all four of which came on a grand slam in the 4th inning. Cristian Guzman had three hits and Felipe Lopez had two hits. Ryan Zimmerman sat out Wednesday’s game. On Thursday, Zimmerman was out of the line up again and the Nationals managed only four hits all game. Wily Mo Pena struggled the most for the Nationals as he went 0-3 with three strike outs.
The Nationals will continue their west coast trip with a weekend series in Arizona to take on the Diamondbacks. Game one of the series will be started by Tim Redding. Game time is 9:40pm.