Belliard's 2 HR, 5-RBI leads Nats past Astros 10-0, Redding earns 7th win
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The Nationals offense, more like Ronnie Belliard, Austin Kearns and Jesus Flores, exploded for 10 runs and won their most lopsided game of the season.
Belliard hit two home runs and drove in five, while Kearns hit a 2-run homer and drove in three. Jesus Flores drove in the other two runs with a bases loaded single in the 5-run fifth.
Tim Redding tossed six innings of scoreless ball to earn his seventh win of the season. He scattered seven hits, struckout six and didn't walk a batter. Redding threw 114 pitches, 70 for strikes. Redding had nine consecutive no-decisions before tonight's win.
Houston starter Roy Oswalt lasted one inning before leaving with a left hip strain. It was probably a good thing for the Nationals hitters. They scored three of Chad Paronto in 2 1/3 innings. In the second, Belliard hit a 2-run shot, to left, off him for the 2-0 lead. Austin Kearns RBI double drove in Cristian Guzman for the 3-0 lead in the third.
Washington broke the game open off Dave Borkowski, with a 5-run fifth. With runners on first and second, Pete Orr, who replaced Dmitri Young, who left with tightness in his right lower back, sacrificed the runners to second and third. Kory Casto was intentionally walked to load the bases. Flores delivered a 2-run single to make it 5-0. Belliard followed with his second home run of the night, and 100th of his career, a 3-run rocket, to deep center-field.
Kearns got in on the home run action in the sixth. He hit a 2-run shot into the Astros bullpen in left-center, his fourth of the season, to give the Nationals the 10-0 lead.
Steven Shell pitched the final three innings to record his first career save. He gave up two hits, didn't walk or strike out a batter.
The win evens the season series with the Astros, two game apiece, with the Nationals taking the last two.
Final Linescore
Astros 0-9-0
Nationals 10-12-1
WP-Redding (7-3)
LP- Paronto (0-1)
SV-Shell (1)
HR-Belliard 2 (9), Kearns (4)
Postgame Notes
Shell Shocked
Steven Shell's first career was the first 3-inning save Nationals history. When told he had accomplished both feats, he said he had no idea.
Power Surge
Ronnie Belliard's two home runs, was the second multi-homer game of the season and sixth of his career. The five RBI is his second best single-game effort of his career. He had eight against the D-Backs on September 23, 2003 while a member of the Rockies. Since his return form the DL on June 10th, Belliard has seven home runs and 21 RBI in 28 games.
Kearns is Driven
With three RBI tonight, Austin Kearns has eight in eight games since coming off the disabled list on July 3rd.
Blanked
The Nationals have two shutouts in their last three games and a total of seven on the season. It's the first time since baseball returned to DC, 2005, that the Nationals have scored 10 runs or more in a shutout. The 10 runs were the most by the Nationals since they put up 10 spot on the Cardinals on June 5th.
Guzman keeps Cruisin
Cristian Guzman has three more hits tonight, going 3-5 with three runs scored. He leads the NL with 126 hits.
Pete McElroy's Live Gameblog
Nationals scoring, sixth inning
Austin Kearns, who hadn't hit a home run since May 6th at Houston, hit a 2-run homer, into the Astros bullpen, in left-center, to make it a double digit lead for the Nationals.
Cristian Guzman lead-off the sixth with a single, his third hit of the night, and Kearns followed with his fourth home run of the season. The Nationals have three home runs on the night, two by Ronnie Belliard.
Redding's final line
Tim Redding tossed six innings of scoreless ball. He scattered seven hits, struckout six and didn't walk a batter. Redding got out of a first inning, 2-out, jam by getting a fly ball out with runners on first and second. In the fourth, he gave up back-to-back singles to start the inning, but left them stranded without either advancing. Here's his final line.
6 IP, 7 H, 6 K. 114 pitches, 70 strikes.
Nationals scoring, 5th inning
Jesus Flores and Ronnie Belliard turned a tight game into a blow-out in the fifth inning.
Flores' bases loaded, 2-run single gave the Nationals a 5-0 lead. Belliard followed with a 3-run bomb to dead center-field, making it 8-0. It was Belliard's second homer of the night. This marks the second time this season, and sixth time in his career, Belliard has a multi-home run game.
Belliard's Bombs
Ronnie Belliard is having some kind of night. He has two home runs and driven in five, and we're only in the sixth inning. It's the second time this season, sixth of his career, he has hit two homers in a game. He did it against the Pirates on June 10th at Pittsburgh. The first home run came in the second to left field. The 3-run bomb went to dead center-field and had no problem clearing the 402 foot sign.
Nationals scoring, 3rd inning
Austin Kearns drove home Cristian Guzman, who doubled to lead-off the third, with a double of his own and the Nationals lead 3-0 after three innings. Kearns' double, one-hopped off the wall in right-center, scoring Guzman easily.
Dmitri Young's injury
Dmitri Young left the game with tightness in his right lower back. Young is listed as day-to-day. Pete Orr took over for Young. Orr, who will remain in the game and play third base, popped out to the catcher. Ronnie Belliard will move over to first.
Redding thru 4 innings
Tim Redding has kept the Astros off the board, but his pitch count is climbing a bit high, too early, He's at 77 pitches already. Redding has stranded five runners to this point and hasn't issued a walk.
4 IP, 6 H, 5 K. 77 pitches, 48 strikes.
Strike a pose
Ronnie Belliard better watch himself the next time he gets in the box against Chad Paronto and/or George Sherril. Those are the last two pitchers Belliard has homered off of and both times he stood at home plate admiring his accomplishments. If he continues to do that, he may just get a 95 MPH heater in the earhole of his batting helmut.
Nationals scoring, 2nd inning
Ronnie Belliard hit a 2-run home run off Paronto, his eighth of the season, to put the Nationals on top 2-0. Jesus Flores hit a 1-out single before Belliard hit Chad Paronto's 1-0 pitch into the seats in left. Paronto replaced Roy Oswalt, who left with a hip injury after the first inning.
Oswalt's injury
Roy Oswalt left tonight's game after the first inning. He was due to bat in the second, but was replaced by Chad Paronto. I'm told he has a left hip strain. Oswalt injured the hip on June 30th and missed his his last start because of the injury. Oswalt threw 17 pitches, gave up a single and a walk.
Starting Line-Ups
Astros:
RF Hunter Pence
2B Kaz Matsui
1B Lance Berkman
LF Carlos Lee
SS Miguel Tejada
3B Ty Wigginton
CF Michael Bourn
C Brad Ausmus
P Roy Oswalt
Nationals:
CF Willie Harris
2B Felipe Lopez
SS Cristian Guzman
RF Austin Kearns
1B Dmitri Young
LF Kory Casto
C Jesus Flores
3B Ronnie Belliard
P Tim Redding
Game Preview
Houston (42-50) at Nationals (34-58)
Last night's game between the Nationals and Diamondbacks had more rallies than a tennis match.
Down two in the home half of the ninth, the Nationals scored two to send the game to extra innings. After the D-Backs scored three to take a 5-2 lead in the 10th, Washington matched Arizona to send it to the 11th. The D-Backs scored two but the Nationals couldn't answer and they lost 7-5.
Tonight, Washington welcomes the Astros to Nationals Park, for a 3-game series before the All-Star break.
The Nationals, who are 1-2 on the current 6-game homestand, have lost seven of eight overall and 13 of their last 19 at Nationals Park.
Houston, 20-29 away from Minute Maid park, is 2-4 on their current 9-game road trip. They have just six wins in their last 21 road games.
Tim Redding aims for his seventh win. Houston counters with Roy Oswalt, who is going for his eighth victory.
Pitching Match-Up
RHP Tim Redding (6-3, 4.06) is hoping to follow in John Lannan's footsteps and pick up his first win since May. Redding has nine consecutive no-decisions since beating the Phillies 4-0 on May 19th. The Nationals have won seven of the nine starts, but lost the last two.
Redding has been mediocre in those nine starts, compiling a 5.05 ERA, but he has pitched well enough to win the majority of the games. He's given up three earned runs or less in five of the nine outings.
His last start, a 3-2 loss at Cincinnati on July 5th, Redding scattered eight hits in six innings, giving up one run. The Reds won on Brandon Phillips' walk-off single in the ninth.
Redding is making his first start against the Astros this year. Last season, he faced Houston twice, going 1-1 with a 1.93 ERA. In the win at Houston on August 20th, Redding tossed seven scoreless innings of six-hit ball in the Nationals 7-0 victory. He lost a 4-2 decision, on July 17th at RFK, giving up three runs in seven innings.
Tonight is the 12th start at Nationals Park for Redding. He's 3-3 with a 4.55 ERA.
RHP Roy Oswalt (7-8, 4.60) is coming off a solid outing against the Dodgers on June 30th. He gave up a run on six hits in six innings to earn the win in the Astros 4-1 victory,
Oswalt hasn't won back-to-back starts since April 16th and 21st, when he beat the Phillies and Padres, respectively.
This is the second start against the Nationals this year for Oswalt. He gave up three runs on six hits in seven innings in the Astros' 4-3 win, but wasn't around to earn a win. Ryan Zimmerman hit two home runs off him, accounting for all three Washington runs. Houston won on Carlos Lee's walk-off single in the ninth.
In his career vs. the franchise, he is 3-1 with a 2.63 ERA in nine games, seven starts. Oswalt has two complete games and one shutout in those seven starts.
Oswalt is making his 10th road start of the season. He's 3-5 with a 4.37 ERA away from Minute Maid Park.
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