Washington Nationals 1-0 over San Francisco Giants: Tanner Roark leads Nats to series win

Tanner Roark beat the Giants when he faced the current NL West division leaders in AT&T Park during Washington’s four-game set in San Francisco last month, giving up four hits in seven innings in which he allowed just one earned run.

He followed that outing up with a win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on the road in Chase Field, improving to (11-6) on the year, with a 3.02 ERA, a 3.52 FIP, 43 walks (2.71 BB/9), 119 Ks (7.49 K/9) and a .239/.309/.337 line against in 140 ⅔ IP as a starter this season.

This afternoon in the nation’s capital, Roark faced off against the Giants again and found himself in a pitchers’ duel with San Francisco southpaw Madison Bumgarner.

Roark came out on top throwing seven scoreless before catcher Wilson Ramos hit a solo blast to right that cleared the out-of-town scoreboard and put the Nationals up for good in what ended up being a 1-0 win.

Here’s how it happened:

Both starters completed four scoreless, Roark on 59 pitches, Bumgarner on 57, and the Giants’ lefty held the Nationals hitless through 3 ⅔ before Anthony Rendon broke up a nascent no-hit bid with a two-out double to right.

Roark was up to 84 pitches after a quick, seven-pitch sixth in which he worked around a one-out hit-by-pitch, getting a 4-3 DP out of Joe Panik to end the frame. Bumgarner came back out with a 13-pitch, 1-2-3 bottom of the inning to complete six scoreless of his own on 81 pitches, with just one hit allowed.

The Giants put two runners on and stranded them in three straight innings from the third through the fifth, and threatened again in the seventh when Denard Span beat out a potential DP grounder for the second out of the frame and took third on a two-out double by Angel Pagan.

Brandon Belt stepped in with two runners in scoring position and hit a long fly ball to center on which Ben Revere made a ridiculous over the shoulder catch in front of the white 402 ft marking on the center field wall. Still 0-0.

Two pitches after Revere’s big catch, Nationals’ catcher Wilson Ramos hit his 18th home run of the season out to right for an opposite field blast that made it a 1-0 game.

Tanner Roark’s Line: 7.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 5 Ks, 105 P, 60 S, 8/7 GO/FO.

Madison Bumgarner’s Line: 8.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 Ks, 113 P, 76 S, 5/7 GO/FO.

Shawn Kelley tossed a quick, 14-pitch, 1-2-3 eighth to preserve the 1-0 lead and Mark Melancon, in his first save situation with the Nationals, and retired the side in order.

Ballgame. 1-0 Nationals. Nats take 2 of 3 from the Giants in D.C.

Nationals now 66-45

NATS NOTES:

• San Francisco’s win last night, after they dropped the series opener in D.C., gave them a shot at their first series win in Washington since 2010.
• Over the last few seasons, the Giants were just 3-13 in regular season matchups in the nation’s capital heading into today’s series finale.
• Washington held a 39-38 advantage over San Francisco in the all-time series between the two teams (2005-present) heading into this afternoon’s series finale.
• Last night’s win left the Giants 6-14 in the first 20 games after the All-Star Break, over which they’ve hit for a .176 AVG with RISP. Since July 1st, San Francisco’s hitters have a combined .173 AVG w/ RISP.
• The Giants had, however, won 4 of their last 7 before today’s series finale and they held a 2.0-game lead over the LA Dodgers in the NL West.
• Washington’s 65-45 record heading into today’s game was the second-best record in the majors, behind only the Chicago Cubs (68-41).
• The Nationals’ +134 run differential was second-best in the majors as well, behind, again, only the Cubs (+180).
• Giants’ starter Madison Bumgarner was winless in his last four starts heading into this afternoon’s matchup (0-2), with a 3.81 ERA in 26 IP over that stretch.
• Giants’ hitters have scored an average of 5.08 runs per game in days games this season, behind only the Dodgers (5.21) and Cubs (5.33) in runs per game when they play during the day.
• In today’s Washington-themed “Fun with Arbitrary End Points” segment: Nationals’ starters lead the league in Ks (with 708) and since July 27th, the Nats’ starting staff lead the NL in BAA (.201) and ranks second in ERA (2.57).
• Nats’ catcher Wilson Ramos went 3 for 4 last night, putting together his third multi-hit game in his last four starts and his 29th multi-hit game of the season.
• Jayson Werth extended his on-base streak to 37-straight games with a walk in the fifth inning last night. He’s connected for 37 hits and taken 27 walks over the course of his streak, with a .377 OBP in the last 37 games.

Nationals now 66-45