WERTH'S 3 HRS COME IN LOSING CAUSE
Dodgers Snap Skid
WASHINGTON, May 7 (AP) - Jayson Werth had a monster game--three home runs, six
runs batted in--but Washington was still beaten by the Los Angeles Dodgers 12-6
at Nationals Park. It was the second time in a week that big a leaguer
homered three times in a game--Victor Martinez of Detroit accomplished the feat
on April 30--and in both cases that player's team lost; the Tigers fell to the
White Sox at U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago. But the defeat didn't
overshadow Werth's effort; he drove in all six of his club's runs.
In truth, the Dodgers won the game in the very first inning when they roughed up
Stephen Strasburg for seven runs and drove him from the mound after recording
just two outs. After retiring Dee Gordon on a comebacker to open the
contest, everything fell apart for Strasburg. Carl Crawford was hit by a
pitch and advanced to second on Hanley Ramirez's base hit to center.
Adrian Gonzalez doubled into the right field corner, scoring Crawford with the
game's first run and sending Ramirez to third. Yasiel Puig then singled to
left, plating Ramirez with Gonzalez stopping at third. Andre Ethier
followed by grounding a single to right, scoring Gonzalez with Puig taking
third. It was now 3-0 but the party was just getting started. Juan Uribe's single to center brought Puig home and advanced Ethier to second and
Miguel Olivo's base hit filled the bases. Pitcher Dan Haren's roller to
third advanced everyone 90 feet, making it 4-0 and Gordon atoned for his
inability to reach safely during his first plate appearance of the inning by
lacing a single to left-center, scoring both runners to give Los Angeles a 7-0
lead. That was it for Strasburg; he was replaced by Ross Detwiler who
retired Crawford to finally end the top of the first.
As if to make a statement, the Nationals immediately tried to get back in the
game. Denard Span drew a lead-off four-pitch walk--a seemingly ominous
sign for Haren--and Anthony Rendon doubled, putting runners on second and
third. Werth followed by launching a Haren offering into the left field
bleachers for his first home run of the game, narrowing the deficit to 7-3.
Haren and Detwiler kept things under wraps until the fifth when Haren helped
himself by singling home Ethier, who had walked. But the Dodgers increased
their lead to eight runs in the sixth. Facing Craig Stammen, Ramirez
singled with one out and Gonzalez tripled him home. Third baseman Rendon
then kicked Puig's routine grounder for an error, allowing Gonzalez to score and
consecutive two-out singles by Uribe and Olivo brought home another run, making
the score 11-3.
Werth's second home run of the game led off the bottom of the sixth and cut the
Los Angeles advantage to 11-4 and in the seventh, Washington shaved two more
runs off the lead. Rendon led off with a base hit against reliever Brian
Wilson and Werth followed by belting his third long ball of the game into the
left field stands.
But it was just delaying the inevitable and the Dodgers emphasized this fact
when Crawford's two-out single in the top of the ninth plated Olivo with the
team's 12th run.
The win snapped a miserable stretch for the Dodgers, who had lost seven times in
eight games prior to this one. The Nationals had won six of seven.
5/7/2014, LAN14-Was14, Nationals Park 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP 2014 Dodgers 7 0 0 0 1 3 0 0 1 12 17 1 9 0 2014 Nationals 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 0 6 8 2 4 0 Dodgers AB R H BI AVG Nationals AB R H BI AVG Gordon,D 2b 6 0 1 2 .252 Span cf 3 1 1 0 .266 Crawford,C lf 5 1 1 1 .340 Rendon 3b 4 2 2 0 .276 Ramirez,H ss 5 2 2 0 .275 Werth rf 4 3 3 6 .341 League p 0 0 0 0 .000 LaRoche 1b 4 0 0 0 .239 Gonzalez,Ad 1b 5 2 3 2 .257 Ramos,W c 4 0 0 0 .000 Puig rf 5 2 1 1 .275 Desmond ss 4 0 2 0 .250 Ethier cf 4 2 1 1 .273 Storen p 0 0 0 0 .000 Uribe 3b 5 1 3 1 .392 Espinosa 2b 4 0 0 0 .221 Olivo c 5 2 3 1 .333 Frandsen lf 4 0 0 0 .273 Haren p 4 0 1 2 .077 Strasburg p 0 0 0 0 .286 Wilson,Br p 0 0 0 0 .000 Detwiler p 1 0 0 0 .000 Figgins ph 1 0 1 0 .375 McLouth ph 1 0 0 0 .091 45 12 17 11 Stammen p 0 0 0 0 .000 Hairston ph 1 0 0 0 .167 Blevins p 0 0 0 0 .000 Walters 2b 1 0 0 0 .500 35 6 8 6 Dodgers INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Haren W 3-2 7.0 6 4 4 2 3 80 56 4.28 Wilson,Br 1.0 2 2 2 0 1 21 14 3.38 League 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 16 11 2.70 9.0 8 6 6 2 5 117 81 Nationals INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Strasburg L 5-2 0.2 7 7 7 0 0 29 17 4.60 Detwiler 4.1 3 1 1 2 1 65 37 4.40 Stammen 2.0 4 3 1 0 0 27 20 2.04 Blevins 1.0 0 0 0 0 2 13 10 4.91 Storen 1.0 3 1 0 0 0 21 17 2.38 9.0 17 12 9 2 3 155 101 LAN: Figgins batted for Wilson,Br in the 9th Figgins moved to ss in the 9th Was: McLouth batted for Detwiler in the 5th Hairston batted for Stammen in the 7th Espinosa moved to ss in the 9th Walters inserted at 2b in the 9th E-Uribe, Rendon, Espinosa. 2B-Gonzalez,Ad 2(11), Rendon(4). 3B-Gonzalez,Ad(1). HR-Werth 3(10). RBI-Gordon,D 2(20), Crawford,C(10), Gonzalez,Ad 2(20), Puig(18), Ethier(9), Uribe(18), Olivo(1), Haren 2(2), Werth 6(33). CS-Span. K-Puig, Ethier, Haren, LaRoche, Espinosa 2, Hairston, Walters. BB-Ramirez,H, Ethier, Span 2. HBP-Crawford,C. HB-Strasburg. GWRBI: Gonzalez,Ad Temperature: 74, Sky: clear, Wind: out to center at 11 MPH. Attendance: 26,001 Game Time: 2:51