The Washington Nationals again faced a pitcher having a rough year, and somehow found a way to make him look nearly unhittable. Rodrigo Lopez took the mound for the Cubs tonight – the same Rodrigo Lopez who led the league in home runs allowed last season – and the Nationals scattered five hits (one a solo home run by Jayson Werth) over 5 and 2/3 innings pitched. Lopez also had four strikeouts, which is a season high.
The Cubs did most of their damage with the long ball tonight as well. Geovany Soto, Alfonso Soriano and Reed Johnson all hit solo home runs. Soriano was involved in the final run as he doubled in Soto in the 4th.
Ross Detwiler had another decent performance out of the rotation, going 5 innings and giving up the three runs on seven hits. Detwiler also struck out five Cubs and walked two.
The loss drops the Nationals to 56-60 on the season. The two teams will make up Monday’s postponed game tomorrow at 2:20 pm. Jordan Zimmermann (7-9, 3.12 ERA) will go up against Ryan Dempster (9-8, 4.87 ERA).
Follow Brendan Darr on twitter: @BrendanDarr1067
