The Washington Nationals lost the final two games of their series in Minnesota and it wrapped up another sweep for the Nationals. They lost 11-2 on Wednesday night and 9-3 on Thursday afternoon. The sweep in Minnesota drops the Nationals to 29-45 on the season.
Jason Bergmann started on the mound for the Nationals and pitched very well, unfortunately, he was still hit with his fifth loss of the season. Bergmann went six strong innings and gave up only one earned run and two unearned runs. The bullpen could not keep the game close. Saul Rivera gave up two runs and only got two outs. Jesus Colome five runs and got only three outs to help put the game out of reach.
Washington got their first run in the fifth inning on a Felipe Lopez solo home run. They scored again in the ninth inning after a Minnesota error. Not the greatest game offensively. The Nationals had a lot of hits, 11, but were unable to push many of them across the plate. Cristian Guzman and Elijah Dukes each had three hits while Aaron Boone and Felipe Lopez each had two hits.
Shawn Hill started on Thursday afternoon and got hit around pretty hard. Hill lasted only 3.2 innings and gave up three walks and ten hits that led to seven Minnesota runs. Jon Rauch came on in the ninth just to get some work in and didn’t give up any runs.
The Nationals offense got a pair of runs in the third on RBI singles from Cristian Guzman and Elijah Dukes. Dmitri Young added a solo homer in the 8th inning. Guzman and Felipe Lopez led the Nationals with two hits each.
The Nationals will head back to Washington to start a series with the Texas Rangers on Friday. Tim Redding will start on the mound for the Nationals. Game time is 7:35pm.