NATS CONTINUE TO ROLL BEHIND PFISTER’S 2-HITTER
Right-Hander Wins 6th Straight Start; Taylor Has Memorable Debut
NEW YORK, Aug. 12 (AP) – Doug Pfister won his sixth consecutive start, firing a complete game two-hit shutout aa the Washington Nationals continued their white hot play of late with with a 5-0 victory over the New York Mets at Citi Field. The Nationals have won three straight and ten of their last 11 games. Since July 21, a span of 21 contests, Washington is 18-3 and leads the National League East by a whopping 22 games over the second place Atlanta Braves. Only one of those last 18 victories was by one run; Washington has outscored its opponents during this span 143-71.
Though still shy of the middle of August, the Nationals’ magic number to clinch the division now stands at 23. A large part of the club’s dominance comes from its performance in intradivisional play. Following the blanking of New York, Washington’s record against its NL East opponents is 35-12.
Pfister’s roller coaster season continues on its second upswing. The Nats right-hander began the year by winning his first five starts, then lost the next six in a row and has now won his last six straight. The outing against the Mets was his best of the season to date.
The Nationals took the lead in the second when, with two outs, Bryce Harper singled and Wilson Ramos drew a free pass from Mets starter Rafael Montero. Michael A. Taylor, making his major league debut, then singled home Harper to make the score 1-0.
Washington added to its lead with a pair of runs in the fourth. Ramos doubled with two outs and Taylor added to his memorable debut by cracking his first big league homer to give the Nationals a 3-0 advantage.
The Nats made it 5-0 in the fifth. Anthony Rendon drew a four-pitch walk from Montero, stole second and scored on Adam LaRoche’s double to the left-center field gap. One out later, Harper’s base hit plated LaRoche.
Pfister, meanwhile, was in complete command throughout. He retired the first five batters before issuing a walk to Matt den Dekker, then retired three more in a row before surrendering a two-out double to Curtis Granderson in the third. The next 14 New York batters were retired in order before Juan Lagares broke the string with a one-out base hit in the eighth. Pfister calmly retired the next five hitters to finish the contest. The Mets had only three baserunners in the entire game and none of them advanced after reaching base.
Daniel Murphy of the Mets entered the contest with a 17-game hitting streak but went 0-for-4.
8/12/2014, Was14-NYN14, Citi Field
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP
2014 Nationals 0 1 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 5 10 0 5 0
2014 Mets 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 3 3
Nationals AB R H BI AVG Mets AB R H BI AVG
Span cf 4 0 2 0 .304 Granderson rf 4 0 1 0 .209
Cabrera,A 2b 3 0 0 0 .236 Murphy,Dan 2b 4 0 0 0 .300
Rendon 3b 3 1 0 0 .305 Wright,D 3b 4 0 0 0 .272
LaRoche 1b 4 1 2 1 .238 Duda 1b 3 0 0 0 .226
Desmond ss 4 0 0 0 .280 d'Arnaud,T c 3 0 0 0 .248
Harper lf 4 1 2 1 .265 den Dekker lf 2 0 0 0 .235
Ramos,W c 3 1 1 0 .251 Lagares cf 3 0 1 0 .272
Taylor,MA rf 4 1 2 3 .500 Flores ss 3 0 0 0 .308
Fister p 4 0 1 0 .038 Montero,R p 1 0 0 0 .286
33 5 10 5 Nieuwenhuis ph 1 0 0 0 .227
Eveland p 0 0 0 0 .000
Torres,C p 0 0 0 0 .000
Campbell ph 1 0 0 0 .310
Carlyle p 0 0 0 0 .500
29 0 2 0
Nationals INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA
Fister W 11-6 9.0 2 0 0 1 3 114 76 3.75
9.0 2 0 0 1 3 114 76
Mets INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA
Montero,R L 1-2 6.0 10 5 5 4 3 93 57 4.88
Eveland 1.2 0 0 0 0 2 20 12 7.40
Torres,C 0.1 0 0 0 0 1 4 3 2.03
Carlyle 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 5 5 0.54
9.0 10 5 5 4 7 122 77
NYN: Nieuwenhuis batted for Montero,R in the 6th
Campbell batted for Torres,C in the 8th
2B-LaRoche(16), Ramos,W(9), Fister(1), Granderson(24). HR-Taylor,MA(1).
RBI-LaRoche(54), Harper(27), Taylor,MA 3(3). SB-Rendon(12). K-LaRoche,
Desmond, Harper 2, Ramos,W, Fister 2, Murphy,Dan, Duda, den Dekker. BB-Span,
Cabrera,A, Rendon, Ramos,W, den Dekker.
GWRBI: Taylor,MA
Temperature: 77, Sky: clear, Wind: in from right at 9 MPH.
Attendance: 17,149
Game Time: 2:26