Between Cincinnati Reds' third baseman Todd Frazier's line drive single to right field with two down in the bottom of the first and second baseman Skip Schumaker's two-out grounder through the right side of the infield in the home-half of the sixth inning in Great American Ball Park, Washington Nationals' right-hander Doug Fister retired 15 of the 16 batters he faced, with a two-out walk in the second providing the Reds with their only baserunner over that stretch.
At the end of the Nats' 30-year-old starter's 14th outing of the 2014 campaign, he'd allowed just three hits and a walk in seven scoreless innings over which he struck out five and induced 11 ground ball outs from the 25 batters who stepped up against the 6'8'' righty in the Nationals' 4-2 win.
Nats' skipper Matt Williams told reporters after the Nationals took two of three from the Reds on the road in Ohio, that it was Fister's changeup and the fact that he was working ahead in the count all afternoon that allowed him to dominate Cincinnati's hitters.
"Really good great changeups today," Williams said, as quoted on MASNSports.com. "Used it to both right-handers and left-handers. Worked ahead. They throw some pretty good starting pitching at you and all of our guys pitched really well in this series. We were fortunate to take two of three here."
Fister and catcher Jose Lobaton were matched up again for the eighth time in Fister's 14 starts for the Nationals and Williams talked after the game about how well the battery has worked together thus far.
"It's comfort level," he said. "Good target. His visual is different with [Lobaton] back there. We want them to be comfortable when they go out there, so whatever is going to do that, we'll act accordingly."
The Nationals are growing more and more confident with Fister on the mound as well, as Jayson Werth explained after the game.
"He's been one of our best all year," Werth said after going 0 for 4 with a walk that forced the game's first run in during the Nationals' three-run fifth. "So, with him out there pitching the way he did today, you felt like you give him a run or two and he's going to hold on to it."
The Nationals gave Fister three runs to work with today, and he made the lead hold up through seven. It was the third seven-inning out by the Nats' starters this weekend.
"Our starters go deep in games," Williams said. "There's been a hiccup or two along the way but they've pitched really well. It just gives us a chance every day to do what we did today, put an inning together and score a couple of runs."
"Our starters, the whole pitching staff, has been doing great," Werth added after the Nationals' 57th win of the year. "They just need to keep doing what they're doing and we need to keep rolling and winning series and keep taking days off the calendar."
Fister earned his 10th win in his first career start in Great American Ball Park, leaving him (10-2) with 2.69 ERA, 3.88 FIP, 11 walks (1.10 BB/9) and 54 Ks (5.38 K/9) in 90 ⅓ IP in his first season with Washington.
The Nationals start a three-game set with the Miami Marlins tomorrow night in Marlins Park.