The Nationals come off a 13 inning shootout heartbreaker the night before against the Giants, this time it only took two runs for the Nationals to get their 27th win of the season and get one on the road against the defending World Series champs.
Jordan Zimmermann went seven innings, giving up five hits, one run and striking out three. Zimmermann also sac bunted in Rick Ankiel in the fourth which was the game winning run that gave Zimmermann his fourth victory of the season. The Nats first run was an Ian Desmond single to center field that knocked in Laynce Nix in the third. The Giants were the first on the board when Nate Schierholtz doubled to left field knocking in Aubrey Huff in the second but were shut out from there.
Drew Storen got his 12th save of the season and Tyler Clippard got the hold. The Nationals bullpen went two innings giving up zero hits, zero runs and striking out one. The Nationals were managed by bench coach John McLaren who was filling in for Jim Riggleman who was suspended one game for his role in the intentional throwing incidents last Sunday against the Diamondbacks.
Jerry Hairston left with lower-back spasms and listed as day to day. Jayson Werth missed the game with a sore right ankle and is listed as day to day. Jonathan Sanchez got the loss for the Giants going five innings, giving up four hits, two runs, five walks and striking out six.
The Nationals are nine games out of first in the National League East and seven games out in the National League Wild Card. The Nats look for the series win in the rubber match against the Giants at 3:45 pm eastern Wednesday at AT&T Park in San Francisco. The probable starters are the Nationals Yunesky Maya (0-1, 8.00 ERA) vs. Matt Cain (4-4, 3.64 ERA) for the Giants.
