The Washington Nationals had to go an extra five innings, but they still got a win and that’s what’s most important. The Nationals and the Texas Rangers needed 14 innings to wrap up their game on Friday night that ended in a 4-3 Washington win. The Nationals are now 30-45 this season.
Tim Redding started for the Nats and put in a typical Tim Redding performance. Redding was solid as he went six innings and gave up three runs. He struck out five batters while walking two. The Nationals needed five relievers to go the next eight innings and they did a wonderful job, surrendering nothing to the Ranger line up. Joel Hanrahan ended up getting the win for throwing a scoreless innings in the 13th and 14th innings. Saul Rivera was also terrific as he threw three scoreless innings of relief.
The Rangers were up 3-0 after the second inning, the Nats offense battled back, slowly but surely. Jesus Flores had a two RBI single in the third to bring Washington within one. In the 8th inning, Elijah Dukes hit a solo home run to tie the game. There was no more scoring until the bottom of the 14th when Dukes singled with the bases loaded to give the Nats the 4-3 win. Flores had three hits for the Nats while Dukes led the way with a career high five hits. Those two accounted for 8 of the teams 12 hits.
These two teams will get some rest and go back at it tonight. Garrett Mock will start for the Nats, who will look for him to get some major innings to give that bullpen a break. Game time is 7:10pm.