Washington shortstop Felipe Lopez lines the second pitch of the game to center for a leadoff single off Arizona righty Dan Haren. Cristian Guzman grounds into a force at second. Aaron Boone flies out. DY takes a two-out walk. Lastings Milledge grounds out to second to end the first. D-Backs' leadoff batter Stephen Drew lines the first pitch from Shawn Hill to right for a single. Drew steals second. Chris Young beats out a single up the middle to put runners on first and third for Orlando Hudson. 1-1 pitch to Hudson from Hill is launched into orbit, out to left and GONE! 3-run blast, 3-0 Arizona lead.
1-2-3 second for Haren on the hill. Shawn Hill gives up a double to AZ catcher Chris Snyder, that hits hard off the wall 413 ft from home. Jeff Salazar flies out to left. Pitcher Dan Haren lines one off Hill’s glove and Cristian Guzman has to barehand it on the run and throw to first for the second out of the inning. Snyder to third on the groundout, and on a wild pitch from Hill in the next at bat, Snyder scores. 4-0 Arizona.
Felipe Lopez walks with one down in the DC third. Orlando Hudson dives to his right and snags a line-drive from Guzman, caught in the webbing of his glove. Boone flies out to right. Three scoreless for Dan Haren. Chad Tracy gets a hold of a fastball from Shawn Hill that was supposed to be inside, but ends up over in Tracy’s wheelhouse for another D-Backs' homer and a 5-0 Arizona lead.
Jesus Flores bounces an 0-1 fastball off the corner in Chase Field’s left field for a two-out double in the Nationals’ fourth. Elijah Dukes up next, pops up behind the plate and D-Backs' catcher Chris Snyder makes the play to end Haren’s fourth scoreless. Lastings Milledge dives but can’t come up with a short fly off the bat of Jeff Salazar. Pitcher Dan Haren flies out to right, and Stephen Drew grounds into a DP to end the fourth. 5-0 Snakes.
Dan Haren dispatches Wily Mo Pena, pinch hitter Ryan Langerhans and Felipe Lopez with curves, splitters and straight fastballs that have all the DC batters guessing. Five scoreless for Haren. Hill’s done after...4.0 IP, 7 hits, 5 ER, 1 BB, 3 K’s, 2 HR’s...DC righty Brian Sanches gets the first two outs in the fifth before Chad Tracy doubles to center, but Sanches gets Mark Reynolds swinging to end the inning. Dan Haren’s got the exaggerated mid-delivery pause of a Japanese pitcher, and it’s working for him, though he walks DY and lets Milledge on with a single, to bring up Jesus Flores, who flies out to end the top of the sixth. Brian Sanches comes back and gets the D-Backs in order to end the sixth frame. Still 5-0 Snakes.
Elijah Dukes grounds out to short. Wily Mo Pena has the 4th hit of the day off Haren, on a sliced-single to right with one down in the seventh. Haren drops a two-strike curve on the inside corner to get Rob Mackowiak staring. 91 mph fastball, Felipe Lopez must have been looking for the curve, another backwards K for Haren. Seven scoreless, 5-0 D-Backs. Charlie Manning takes over on the mound for the Nationals and walks the pinch-hitting-pitcher Micah Owings. One out later, Manning walks Chris Young. Two on, two out for Chad Tracy...Manning gets a groundout. 5-0 D-Backs after seven.
Arizona reliever Chad "DJ" Qualls gets Guzman, Boone, and DY in order in the eighth. DC lefty Charlie Manning gives up a leadoff walk, but escapes the eighth otherwise unscathed. Three outs to get five runs for the Nationals in the ninth. Arizona righty Tony Pena gets a groundout to second from Milledge. Jesus Flores grounds out to third. Elijah Dukes watches strike three into the catcher’s mitt to end a 5-0 D-Backs’ shutout victory.
The Nationals drop 4 of 6 on the road, winning one each in San Diego and Arizona, and now they head back to Nationals Park to face the St. Louis Cardinals starting Tuesday night in DC...
Nationals now 24-34.