NATS PEN FANS 17 IN COMEBACK

 'W'Stammen K's 10 in 4.1 IP of Relief

WASHINGTON, July 5 (AP) - The Washington Nationals' bullpen struck out 17 batters in 9-1/3 shutout innings after starter Gio Gonzalez was knocked out of the game in the opening frame, leading the club to a 7-6 10-inning comeback victory over the Chicago Cubs at Nationals Park.  Craig Stammen, who took over for Gonzalez, struck out 10 in 4-1/3 innings of relief.  Stammen is the first reliever in the major leagues this year to reach double digits in strikeouts in a single game.

The Cubs frittered away a 5-0 lead, established in the opening frame.  Gonzalez walked Junior Lake leading off the game and then allowed consecutive base hits to Jason Ruggiano and Anthony Rizzo.  Rizzo's single scored Lake, giving the Cubs a 1-0 lead, leaving runners on first and second.  Starlin Castro flied deep to right, advancing Ruggiano to third and Wellington Castillo followed with a base hit to right, scoring Ruggiano, and when right fielder Bryce Harper misplayed the ball, runners were left on second and third with one out and Chicago on top 2-0.  Mike Olt then belted a three-run home run to left, for a 5-0 lead.  Gonzalez walked Chris Coghlan and then finally recorded the second out of the inning when Darwin Barney struck out.  But Gonzalez yielded a base hit to his counterpart, Cubs starter Carlos Villanueva, putting runners on the corners and when Junior Lake--the tenth batter of the inning--walked, the bases were loaded.  Washington manager Matt Williams removed Gonzalez from the game, though it seemed like closing the barn door after the horse had bolted to most Nationals fans in attendance, who gave Williams a rousing chorus of boos when he strode to the mound.  Stammen replaced Gonzalez and finally got the last out of the inning by fanning Ruggiano, the first of his ten strikeout victims.

The Nationals began the comeback effort in the bottom of the second when Ryan Zimmerman doubled with one out and scored on Harper's base hit.  Washington cut the lead to 5-3 when Denard Span and Anthony Rendon hit back-to-back one-out triples and Jayson Werth followed with a sacrifice fly.  And the Nats made it 5-4 in the fifth when Wilson Ramos led off with a walk and was forced at second by pinch hitter Nate McLouth's fielder's choice grounder.  McLouth stole second, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on Span's sacrifice fly to left.

Stammen, meanwhile, was overpowering for Washington, striking out at least two batters in all four of his full innings of work--not to mention fanning the only batter he faced after replacing Gonzalez in the first.

The Cubs scored their only non-first inning run in the seventh, when Olt drew a lead-off walk from Ross Detwiler.  Coghlan sacrificed Olt to second and Barney drew Detwiler's second free pass of the frame.  Pinch hitter Ryan Sweeney's infield single filled the bases and Lake's sacrifice fly to right scored Olt to make it 6-4.

But the Nationals got the run back in the bottom of the inning when Ian Demsond led off with a base hit off Brian Schlitter.  Ramos hit a tailor made double play grounder to short and Desmond was successfully forced at second but Barney's relay throw to first was wild, allowing Ramos to end up on second with one out.  Pinch hitter Danny Espinosa grounded out, with Ramos taking third and Span came through with a two-out single to left, making it 6-5.

There it stood until the bottom of the ninth when Hector Rondon, who had successfully converted 18 of 19 save opportunities, came on to close out the game.  It didn't go well.  Harper led off by lining a single to left and Desmond walked, putting runners on first and second.  Ramos' slow roller to short moved the runners to second and third and pinch hitter Kevin Frandsen lifted the game's fourth sacrifice fly, scoring Harper to tie the game.

Rafael Soriano retired Chicago in order in the top of the tenth and Rondon, remaining in the game to face the right-handed hitting Werth, gave up a base hit.  James Russell replaced Rondon but Werth stole second and advanced to third on Adam LaRoche's grounder to first.  Zimmerman was walked intentionally so Russell could face the lefty swinging Harper, but the Nationals left fielder drilled a sharp grounder through the right side of the infield, scoring Werth with the game-winning run.7/5/2014, ChN14-Was14, Nationals Park

                       1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10     R  H  E   LOB DP

2014 Cubs              5  0  0  0  0  0  1  0  0  0     6 13  1    12  0

2014 Nationals         0  1  2  0  1  0  1  0  1  1     7  9  1     7  1

Cubs                 AB  R  H BI   AVG    Nationals            AB  R  H BI   AVG

Lake              cf  3  1  0  1  .176    Span              cf  3  1  2  2  .307

Ruggiano          rf  6  1  1  0  .289    Rendon            2b  5  1  1  1  .297

Rizzo             1b  6  1  3  1  .275    Werth             rf  4  1  1  1  .309

Castro,S          ss  5  0  1  0  .288    LaRoche           1b  4  0  0  0  .231

Castillo,W        c   5  1  2  1  .212    Zimmerman,R       3b  4  1  1  0  .234

Olt               3b  3  2  1  3  .135    Harper            lf  5  1  3  2  .248

 Strop            p   0  0  0  0  .000    Desmond           ss  3  0  1  0  .261

 Schierholtz      rf  0  0  0  0  .217    Ramos,W           c   3  1  0  0  .229

Coghlan           lf  3  0  1  0  .290    Gonzalez,G        p   0  0  0  0  .167

 Rondon,H         p   0  0  0  0  .000     Stammen          p   1  0  0  0  .000

 Russell          p   0  0  0  0  .000     McLouth          ph  1  1  0  0  .134

Barney            2b  4  0  2  0  .207     Detwiler         p   0  0  0  0  .000

Villanueva        p   3  0  1  0  .071     Clippard         p   0  0  0  0  .000

 Ramirez,N        p   0  0  0  0  .000     Espinosa         ph  1  0  0  0  .237

 Sweeney          ph  1  0  1  0  .322     Blevins          p   0  0  0  0  .000

 Schlitter        p   0  0  0  0  .000     Frandsen         ph  0  0  0  1  .246

 Valbuena         3b  1  0  0  0  .220     Soriano,R        p   0  0  0  0  .000

                     40  6 13  6                               34  7  9  7

Cubs                             INN  H  R ER BB  K PCH STR   ERA

Villanueva                       5.0  4  4  4  1  4  64  44  2.90

Ramirez,N        H 5             1.0  0  0  0  1  1  16   7  2.76

Schlitter        H 7             1.0  2  1  0  0  0  14   9  5.46

Strop            H 9             1.0  0  0  0  0  2  14  10  1.80

Rondon,H         BS 2, L 2-2     1.0  2  2  2  2  1  24  12  1.57

Russell                          0.1  1  0  0  1  0  15   7  2.73

                                 9.1  9  7  6  5  8 147  89

Nationals                        INN  H  R ER BB  K PCH STR   ERA

Gonzalez,G                       0.2  5  5  5  3  1  41  21  4.13

Stammen                          4.1  5  0  0  0 10  74  53  2.12

Detwiler                         1.1  2  1  1  2  1  32  16  3.21

Clippard                         0.2  0  0  0  0  1   8   5  1.80

Blevins                          2.0  1  0  0  0  4  32  21  2.57

Soriano,R        W 4-0           1.0  0  0  0  0  1  15  10  1.56

                                10.0 13  6  6  5 18 202 126

ChN: Sweeney batted for Ramirez,N in the 7th

     Valbuena inserted at 3b in the 8th

     Ruggiano moved to lf in the 9th

     Schierholtz inserted at rf in the 9th

Was: McLouth batted for Stammen in the 5th

     Espinosa batted for Clippard in the 7th

     Frandsen batted for Blevins in the 9th

E-Barney, Harper. 2B-Castro,S(24), Barney(12), Zimmerman,R(8), Harper(3).

3B-Rizzo(1), Span(7), Rendon(4). HR-Olt(6). RBI-Lake(23), Rizzo(47),

Castillo,W(34), Olt 3(15), Span 2(22), Rendon(48), Werth(63), Harper 2(15),

Frandsen(11). SB-Werth(3), McLouth(3). K-Lake 3, Ruggiano 3, Rizzo,

Castro,S 2, Castillo,W 3, Olt 2, Coghlan, Barney, Villanueva, Valbuena,

Rendon, Werth 3, LaRoche 2, Desmond, Stammen. BB-Lake 2, Olt, Coghlan,

Barney, Span, LaRoche, Zimmerman,R, Desmond, Ramos,W. SH-Coghlan. SF-Lake,

Span, Werth, Frandsen. HBP-Olt. HB-Stammen. WP-Villanueva. BALK-Stammen.

GWRBI: Harper

Temperature: 77, Sky: clear, Wind: out to center at 11 MPH.

Attendance: 41,523

Game Time: 3:27