NATS CRUSH ROX BEHIND BARRAGE OF HITS
3 Washington Batters Amass 4 Safeties Each
WASHINGTON, July 1 (AP) - One day after a pulsating 1-0 walk-off win courtesy of Denard Span's lead-off homer in the bottom of the ninth, the Washington Nationals pounded out 23 hits en route to a 22-5 destruction of the Colorado Rockies at Nationals Park. The 22 runs and 23 hits are both the second highest single game totals in the major leagues this season, behind the 23 hits and 24 runs compiled by the Arizona Diamondbacks in a victory over the Chicago White Sox on May 9.
The Nationals began the offensive onslaught with three runs off Rockies starter Christian Friedrich in the bottom of the second. Bryce Harper led off with a base hit and Ian Desmond followed with his 11th home run of the year to give Washington a 2-0 lead. Wilson Ramos drew a walk and advanced to second one out later on Span's single. A passed ball moved the runners to second and third and Anthony Rendon's sacrifice fly made it 3-0.
The blowout started in earnest during a six-run bottom of the third. The Nationals sent 11 men to the plate in the inning, beginning with a lead-off walk to Ryan Zimmerman. After Harper grounded out, advancing Zimmerman to second, Desmond's RBI-single made it 4-0 and a base hit off the bat of Ramos put runners on first and second. Starting pitcher Steven Strasburg moved the runners along with a sacrifice and then the hit parade really kicked in, beginning with Span's two-run single, giving Washington a 6-0 advantage. Chad Bettis replaced Friedrich on the mound, but it did no good. Rendon flied out for the second out but Jayson Werth singled in a run, Adam LaRoche walked to load the bases and Zimmerman's base hit plated two more runs, making it 9-0, before Bettis finally got the third out by inducing Harper to fly to center.
Any doubts about the outcome were firmly erased when the Nationals plated another six runs in the fourth. Bettis was chased from the mound having recorded only one out in the inning, allowing another run to score, and leaving the bases loaded. Adam Ottavino came on, yielded a sacrifice fly (Werth), a run-scoring single (LaRoche) and a three-run bomb to Zimmerman before recording the third out of the inning. When the dust settled, it was 15-0.
And the carnage was far from over. The Nationals plated seven more runs over the next two frames. Most of the damage was done by singling the Rockies to death; 17 of Washington's 23 hits were singles. Colorado pitchers did themselves no favors by issuing a total of seven free passes.
When it was all said and done, six Nationals had recorded multi-hit games, with three of them--Span, Desmond and Ramos--amassing four hits apiece. Every player who recorded at least one plate appearance for the Nationals had at least one safety, including Nate McLouth, who entered the game in the top of the eighth as a defensive substitution.
The Rockies ultimately pushed five runs across the plate, but to little effect, and Strasburg--who allowed only four hits and fanned eight in seven innings of work--recorded his 11th win of the season, one behind Madison Bumgarner of the San Francisco Giants for the National League lead.
7/1/2014, Col14-Was14, Nationals Park
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
9 R H E LOB DP
2014
Rockies 0
0 0 0 0 2 0 0
3 5 9 1 7 0
2014
Nationals 0 3
6 6 3 4 0 0 x 22 23
1 9 0
Rockies
AB R H BI AVG
Nationals
AB R H BI AVG
Dickerson,Co
lf 3 1 2 2 .311
Span
cf 7 4 4 2 .309
Rutledge
ss 5 0 0 0 .267
Rendon
2b 5 1 3 4 .294
Morneau
1b 5 1 3 1 .302
Werth
rf 4 1 2 3 .308
Stubbs
cf 4 0 0 0 .273
Frandsen 3b 0
0 0 0 .240
Belisle
p 0 0 0 0 .000
LaRoche 1b
4 1 1 1 .233
Rosario
c 3 0 1 1 .222
Zimmerman,R 3b 5 2
2 5 .225
Brothers
p 0 0 0 0 .000
Hairston lf 0
0 0 0 .167
Blackmon
ph 1 0 0 0 .258
Harper
lf 6 1 1 0 .224
Wheeler,R
3b 4 1 0 0 .172
Stammen p
0 0 0 0 .000
Barnes,B
rf 4 0 0 0 .248
Desmond ss
6 4 4 3 .256
LeMahieu
2b 4 1 2 0 .221
Ramos,W
c 5 4 4 0 .232
Friedrich
p 1 0 0 0 .000
Strasburg p 3
4 1 1 .206
Bettis
p 0 0 0 0 .000
McLouth rf 1
0 1 0 .129
Ottavino
p 0 0 0 0
.000
46 22 23 19
Culberson
ph 1 0 0 0 .175
Kahnle
p 0 0 0 0 1.000
McKenry
c 2 1 1 1 .250
37 5 9 5
Rockies
INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA
Friedrich
L 1-1 2.1
8 8 7 4 3 81 45 8.10
Bettis
1.0 6 5 5 1 0 37 23 19.89
Ottavino
0.2 2 2 2 0 0 11 7 1.77
Kahnle
1.2 5 6 3 2 1 49 25 3.50
Brothers
1.1 1 1 0 0 0 13 10 6.75
Belisle
1.0 1 0 0 0 1 11 8 5.94
8.0 23 22 17 7 5 202 118
Nationals
INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA
Strasburg
W 11-6 7.0 4
2 2 2 8 99 66 3.71
Stammen
2.0 5 3 2 0 2 43 28 2.34
9.0 9 5 4 2 10 142 94
Col: Culberson
batted for Ottavino in the 5th
McKenry inserted at c in the 6th
Blackmon batted for Brothers in the 8th
Blackmon moved to cf in the 8th
Was: Frandsen
inserted at 3b in the 8th
Hairston inserted at lf in the 8th
McLouth inserted at rf in the 8th
E-Barnes,B, Desmond.
2B-Dickerson,Co(9), Morneau(25), Rosario(15),
McKenry(2), Rendon(17),
Werth(22), McLouth(7). HR-Zimmerman,R(7),
Desmond(12).
RBI-Dickerson,Co 2(27), Morneau(36), Rosario(20), McKenry(10),
Span 2(20), Rendon
4(45), Werth 3(59), LaRoche(28), Zimmerman,R 5(28),
Desmond 3(44),
Strasburg(2). K-Rutledge, Stubbs 3, Barnes,B 3, LeMahieu,
Friedrich,
Culberson, Span, LaRoche, Zimmerman,R, Ramos,W, Strasburg.
BB-Dickerson,Co 2,
Werth, LaRoche 2, Zimmerman,R, Ramos,W, Strasburg 2.
SF-Rendon, Werth.
PB-Rosario. WP-Brothers.
GWRBI: Desmond
Temperature: 67,
Sky: clear, Wind: in from center at 12 MPH.
Attendance: 24,228
Game Time: 3:27