FISTER EXTENDS SCORELESS START STREAK TO 3
Nats Win for 11th Time in 14 Games
WASHINGTON, May 20 (AP) - Doug Fister tossed seven scoreless innings as he and a
pair of relievers combined to shut out the Cincinnati Reds 3-0 at Nationals
Park. Fister has yet to allow a run in his first three starts of the
season, covering a total of 20 2/3 innings. The victory was the 11th in
the last 14 games for the Nationals, who hold the best record in the major
leagues (32-13) and a 6 1/2 game lead in the National League East.
Fister and Reds starter Johnny Cueto matched scoreless frames until the
Washington half of the fourth. Anthony Rendon drew a lead-off walk from
Cueto and, after Jayson Werth struck out, Ian Desmond dropped a single into
right field, allowing Rendon to advance to third. Tyler Moore fanned but
Kevin Frandsen broke the scoreless tie with a single to left, scoring Rendon to
give the Nationals a 1-0 lead.
Washington doubled the advantage in the fifth when Jose Lobaton led off with a
double, was sacrificed to third by Fister and scored when Denard Span grounded a
single to center.
The Nationals capped the scoring in the seventh when Lobaton again led off with
a two-bagger and pinch hitter Zach Walters drew a walk, putting runners on first
and second. Span sacrificed the runners to second and third. When
Rendon grounded to a pulled in Zack Cozart at short, Lobaton tried to score but
was cut down at the plate for the second out. But Werth grounded a single
off the glove of first baseman Todd Frazier, allowing Walters to score to give
Washington a 3-0 lead.
Fister wasn't flawless, recording only two 1-2-3 innings in his seven frames of
work, but was reliable, walking only one batter and holding the Reds without an
extra base hit.
After he was lifted for a pinch hitter in the bottom of the seventh, Fister was
replaced by Tyler Clippard, who worked around a pair of free passes to keep the
Reds scoreless in the eighth. Rafael Soriano came on for the Nationals in
the ninth and yielded a lead-off single to Brayan Pena, but he was immediately
erased by Chris Heisey's double play grounder. Soriano then retired Cozart
on a grounder to short to end the game.
5/20/2014, Cin14-Was14, Nationals Park 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP 2014 Reds 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 0 7 0 2014 Nationals 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 x 3 8 0 7 2 Reds AB R H BI AVG Nationals AB R H BI AVG Hamilton,B cf 4 0 2 0 .243 Span cf 3 0 1 1 .294 Schumaker rf 3 0 0 0 .229 Rendon 3b 3 1 2 0 .295 Phillips 2b 3 0 0 0 .211 Werth rf 4 0 1 1 .333 Frazier 1b 4 0 1 0 .267 Desmond ss 4 0 1 0 .257 Pena,B c 3 0 1 0 .220 Moore,T 1b 4 0 0 0 .241 Heisey lf 4 0 0 0 .190 Frandsen lf 4 0 1 1 .319 Cozart ss 4 0 2 0 .250 Espinosa 2b 4 0 0 0 .234 Santiago,R 3b 3 0 1 0 .179 Lobaton c 3 1 2 0 .235 Cueto p 0 0 0 0 .100 Fister p 1 0 0 0 .000 Mesoraco ph 1 0 0 0 .281 Walters ph 0 1 0 0 .313 Broxton p 0 0 0 0 .000 Clippard p 0 0 0 0 .000 29 0 7 0 Soriano,R p 0 0 0 0 .000 30 3 8 3 Reds INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Cueto L 5-3 7.0 8 3 3 2 6 113 75 3.23 Broxton 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 6 6 1.17 8.0 8 3 3 2 6 119 81 Nationals INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Fister W 3-0 7.0 6 0 0 1 2 91 59 0.00 Clippard H 11 1.0 0 0 0 2 1 18 8 0.93 Soriano,R S 14 1.0 1 0 0 0 0 4 4 1.83 9.0 7 0 0 3 3 113 71 Cin: Mesoraco batted for Cueto in the 8th Was: Walters batted for Fister in the 7th 2B-Rendon(7), Lobaton 2(8). RBI-Span(9), Werth(38), Frandsen(9). CS-Hamilton,B. K-Schumaker 2, Frazier, Werth 2, Desmond, Moore,T, Espinosa 2. BB-Schumaker, Phillips, Pena,B, Rendon, Walters. SH-Cueto 2, Span, Fister. GWRBI: Frandsen Temperature: 68, Sky: clear, Wind: out to center at 2 MPH. Attendance: 27,088 Game Time: 2:14