Tonight's game story: Nats blow it.
Via FanGraphs
- Not sharp: Stephen Strasburg (+15.6%) walks 3 and strikes out 5 over 5.1 IP, eventually being responsible for 4 ER.
- Early pop, but not late: Michael Morse (+16.8%) hits a monster 3-run jack in the 1st off the railing above the Red Porch seats (+25.0%). Ryan Zimmerman (+11.8%) tacks on with his own 3-run bomb in the 4th (+9.7%).
- Bad setup: Sean Burnett (-7.5%) gets a meltdown, striking out 2 but walking 2 (including one with the bases loaded) to allow 4 runs to come around in the 8th, shrinking the lead to two.
- Mr. Chernobyl: Tyler Clippard (-67.8%) starts his most recent meltdown with a walk, a WP, and a HBP. Both free passes score on a subsequent triple to put the Nats behind in the 9th (-62.8%).
- Not clutch enough: Danny Espinosa (+41.8%) is 2-5 with the "best hit in the history of baseball ever" in the first (+0.7%) and a game-tying solo shot in the 9th (+47.3%).
- As if the free passes weren't bad enough: Tom Gorzelanny (-20.0%) can't catch a break with an error behind him (-17.4%) and a passed ball in front of him (-12.0%) to set up the eventual go-behind bloop hit (-8.2%).