Nats beat Marlins 9-6, Balester picks up win in MLB debut
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Collin Balester tossed a five-inning, one-hitter en route to his first Major League win. The only hit came on a fourth-inning single, and the Marlins' lone run came on a Hanley Ramirez sac fly in that same inning.
The Nationals got a solo home run from Elijah Dukes, one of his three hits on the night, and a grand slam from Ronnie Belliard to lead the Nationals to their first win in their last seven against the Marlins. Felipe Lopez had three hits and drove in two runs and Cristian Guzman and Paul Lo Duca had two hits each.
Washington goes for the series win tomorrow afternoon before heading to Cincinnati.
After the game, Debbi Taylor talked with Balester about picking up his first Major League win.
Pete McElroy's Live GameBlog
Nationals scoring, 8th inning
After the Marlins cut the Nationals' lead to 6-4, they got all three runs back in the 8th.
With the bases loaded, pinch-hitter Kory Casto grounded to Mike Jacobs at first. Jacobs tried for the force at home but threw wide allowing a run to score. Felipe Lopez followed with an RBI single to make it 8-4. Willie Harris, pinch-hitting for Joel Hanrahan, drove in a run on a single to center and the Nationals have their 5-run lead back.
Marlins scoring, 7th inning
The Marlins did to Steven Shell what they couldn't do to Collin Balester, get two hits off him.
Shell gave up a hit and hit a batter before giving up a 3-run bomb to Hanley Ramirez to cut the Nationals' lead to 6-4 in the 7th.
Nationals scoring, 6th inning
Ronnie Belliard gave Collin Balester enough cushion to possibly pick up his first Major League win.
Cristian Guzman, Elijah Dukes and Dmitri Young singled to start the inning and load the bases for Belliard. Belliard hit Mark Hendrickson's 1-0 pitch over the wall in left to give the Nationals a 6-1 lead in the 6th.
Balester thru 5 innings
Collin Balester gave up his first hit and run in the 5th. It could've been a lot worse but he got himself out of two bases loaded jams.
Cody Ross led-off with a single, but was forced out at second. Balester then walked Matt Treanor and pitcher Mark Hendrickson to load the bases. Hanley Ramirez popped out to short right and Robert Andino scored to make it 2-1 Nationals. He walked Jeremy Hermida to load them again, but Josh Willingham popped out in foul territory to end the threat.
Balester was lifted after five strong innings. He gave up one run on one hit and three walks. He threw 95 pitches, 54 for strikes.
Nationals scoring, 5th inning
Felipe Lopez gave Washington a 2-0 on an RBI single in the top of the inning. Paul Lo Duca led-off with a double and scored on Lopez's bloop single to right.
Balester thur 4 innings
The way Balester is pitching, one would think he's a seasoned vet. He has yet to give up a hit and his breaking ball is ridiculous. His fastball has topped out at 94 and has good life on it. So far, so good for the rookie.
4 IP, 0 H, 0 BB, 4 K. 62 pitches, 40 strikes
Nationals scoring, 4th inning
Elijah Dukes hit another bomb at Dolphin Stadium. This one gave the Nationals a 1-0. It was his 5th of the year.
Starting Line-Ups
Nationals:
CF Roger Bernadina
SS Cristian Guzman
RF Elijah Dukes
1B Dmitri Young
3B Ronnie Belliard
C Paul Lo Duca
LF Wily Mo Pena
2B Felipe Lopez
P Collin Balester
Marlins:
SS Hanley Ramirez
RF Jeremy Hermida
3B Jorge Cantu
LF Josh Willingham
1B Mike Jacobs
CF Cody Ross
2B Robert Andino
C Matt Treanor
P Mark Hendrickson
Game Preview
Nationals (33-51) at Florida (43-39)
Highly touted, 22-year-old rookie Collin Balester, is making his MLB debut in place of injured Shawn Hill.
The Nationals are hoping he can end the Marlins dominance. Florida has won nine of 10 this season and six straight against Washington. The Marlins have won two straight and three of four to move within a half game of the first-place Phillies in the NL East.
Washington looked like they were going to finally end their 5-game losing streak to the Marlins, but Hanley Ramirez and Josh Willingham had other ideas. Ramirez's 1-out home run in the ninth off Jon Rauch sent the game to the 10th. Willingham ended the game on one pitch with his second homer of the night. It was the second consecutive walk-off win for the Marlins.
Pitching Match-Up
RHP Collin Balester (NR) is making his Major League debut. Balester, taking Shawn Hill's spot in the rotation, was outstanding for the Columbus Clippers before being promoted. He went 8-1 with a 3.90 ERA in his last 10 International League starts, including 4-0 with a 2.82 ERA in four June starts.
Balester was tied for third with nine wins in Triple-A. He allowed two runs or less in nine of his 15 starts, and had nearly a 3-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio, 64 K-23 BB.
He was 9-3 with a 4.00 ERA in 15 starts this season. For his career, Balester is 27-26 with a 3.99 ERA in four-plus Minor League seasons.
Balester entered the 2008 season rated by Baseball America as the Nationals' third ranked prospect and their top right-handed pitcher.
Balester has three pitches, a sinking 89-96 mph fastball, a 76-81 mph 12-to-6 downer power curveball and a pretty good changeup
LHP Mark Hendrickson (7-6, 5.93) is 0-4 in his last six starts and hasn't won since May 25th. He's coming off a 6-1 set-back against the Rays at Dolphin Stadium where he gave up five runs on five hits and five walks in 4 2/3 innings. Hendrickson threw 102 pitches. It was the sixth time in his last 10 starts he threw over 100 pitches in less than six innings.
Hendrickson faced the Nationals on April 10th at Nationals Park and picked up the win in the Marlins 4-3 victory. He threw a 1-run, three-hitter in seven strong innings. The only run came on a Ronnie Belliard solo homer in the third.
In his career against Washington, six games, four starts, Hendrickson is 1-1 with a 4.26 ERA. At Dolphin Stadium, nine starts, he is 5-3 with a 5.93 ERA. Seven of the 13 home runs he's given up have come at home, and opponents are hitting .296 off him in Miami,
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