The Washington Nationals won the opener of their series with the Baltimore Orioles on Friday and followed it with a loss on Saturday and a win on Sunday afternoon. On Saturday they lost 9-1 in a laughed, but came back strong on Sunday with a 3-2 win in 12 innings. The Nationals are now 33-50 this season.
The normally solid John Lannan was anything but as he got the start on Saturday. Lannan lasted only five innings and gave up seven runs, although only four of them were earned. Jesus Colome followed Lannan and gave up four hits and two runs in one inning of work. Lannan took the loss and fell to 4-9 on the season. The Nationals got their only run in the first inning on a Lastings Milledge RBI single. Cristian Guzman and Willie Harris led the Nats with two hits each.
On Sunday the Nationals got a great start from Jason Bergmann who went seven innings and gave up only one earned run. While he got the no-decision he struck out three batters and walked only one. Joel Hanrahan got one out in the 12th inning and that was good enough for him to get his fifth win of the season. The Orioles got a run in the top of the 12th inning the Orioles got a run to go up 2-1. However, with two outs in the bottom of the twelfth, the Nats got a two run homer from Ronnie Belliard to win the game 3-2. Willie Harris was the only Washington player to pick up more than one hit as he had two.
The Rays will leave the confines of their home park to start a three game series with the Florida Marlins on Monday. Tim Redding is scheduled to start the opener. Game time is 7:10pm.