Lannan picks up 5th win as Nats beat D-Backs 5-0 to end 6-game slide
STATS: By Inning | Box | Matchup | Nats Stats | D-backs Stats
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One could argue that tonight's 5-0 win over the Diamondbacks was the most complete victory of the season.
John Lannan tossed six scoreless innings of 2-hit ball to pick up his first win since May 18th and end the Nationals six-game losing streak. The Nationals bullpen did their job and shut out Arizona over the final three innings.
The Nationals led 1-0, in the sixth, with 2-out and runners on first and second. Arizona starter Micah Owings was pulled for reliever Connor Robertson. Kory Casto greeted Robertson with a double to drive in the second run of the game. Lannan was due to bat, but manager Manny Acta didn't want to take any chances and sent Jesus Flores to pinch-hit and try to extend their lead.
Robertson got ahead of Flores 1-2 before Flores drilled his fifth homer of the season, into the Arizona bullpen in left, to make it a 5-0 game. It was Flores first career pinch-hit homer and the fourth by a National this season.
Joel Hanrahan, Luis Ayala and Jon Rauch eached pitched a scoreless inning to preserve the shutout.
Postgame Notes
After tonight's much needed victory, John Lannan spoke to Johnny Holliday and Ray Knight on Nats Xtra about his pitching and the clutch home run by Jesus Flores.
Home, Sweet, Home
Washington has won four of their last six at Nationals Park.
In a pinch
With the sixth-inning pinch-hit homer, Jesus Flores is now .500, 3-6 coming off the bench this season.
Casto Call
Kory Casto went 2-3 with two RBI and his first MLB stolen base.
Rehab Update
Catcher Johnny Estrada began a rehab assignment with Double-A Harrisburg. He went 1-5 with an RBI single in his first at bat.
Turning 2
The Nationals matched a season-high by turning four double plays ,and three of them ended innings.
Final Linescore
D-Backs 0-3-0
Nationals 5-6-0
WP-Lannan (5-9)
LP-Owings (6-8)
HR-Flores(5)
Pete McElroy's Live Gameblog
Nationals scoring, 6th inning
Manny Acta felt like he needed to strike while the iron was hot and add to the Nationals 2-0 lead in the sixth. Acta had Jesus Flores pinch-hit for John Lannan, who only threw 85 pitches and gave up just two hits thru six innings
Kory Casto doubled home a run to make it 2-0 and the Nationals still had runners on second and third. Arizona replaced Micah Owings with Connor Robertson. Robertson got ahead of Flores 1-2 before Flores hit a 3-run bomb to left, giving Washington a 5-0 lead. Acta looks like a genius for making the move.
Lannan pulled for pinch-hitter
John Lannan only surrendered two hits and didn't give up a run, but Manny Acta felt the need to add to the 2-0 lead in the bottom of the sixth. Lannan got three double plays from his defense. Here's his final line.
6 IP, 2 H, 3 BB. 85 pitches, 43 strikes
Wild thing
I'm not sure what has gotten into Micah Owings tonight, but he is very wild. We are only thru four innings and he's already hit three Nationals. He hit Ronnie Belliard and Paul Lo Duca to load the bases in the second and Austin Kearns to lead-off the fourth. He alomst hit Lo Duca again in the fourth but Paul was smart enough to get out of the way. Owings has issued one walk and 31 of his 53 pitches are balls.
Lannan thru 3 innings
John Lannan's pitch count is a tad high, but he's been pretty steady so far. He gave up a 2-out single in the first, a 2-out walk in the second and a lead-off single in the third; but he started a 1-6-3 double play to get out of the third and hasn't given up a run, so Manny Acta has to be pleased.
3 IP, 2 H, BB. 49 pitches, 27 strikes.
Nationals scoring, 2nd inning
The Nationals loaded the bases with a single and two hit batters and got a run when Micah Owings couldn't find the plate.
With 1-out, Dmitri Young singled and Ronnie Belliard and Paul Lo Duca were hit by pitches to load the bases. Kory Casto walked to force in a run and give the Nationals a 1-0 lead. John Lannan came up looking to help his own cause, but grounded into an inning-ending play.
Starting Line-Ups
Line-up change for the Diamondbacks. Justin Upton was a late scratch.
Diamondbacks:
CF Chris Young
SS Augie Ojeda
2B Orlando Hudson
LF Conor Jackson
3B Mark Reynolds
1B Chad Tracy
C Robby Hammock
RF Emilio Bonifacio
P MIcah Owings
Nationals:
CF Willie Harris
2B Felipe Lopez
SS Cristian Guzman
RF Austin Kearns
1B Dmitri Young
3B Ronnie Belliard
C Paul Lo Duca
LF Kory Casto
P John Lannan
Game Preview
Arizona (45-45) at Nationals (34-57)
Last night's 2-0 loss dropped the Nationals to 23 games under .500 and 14 games out of first place in the NL East. It was the 11th time they were shut out this season, their six straight defeat and the seventh in eight games.
After going 1-6 on their previous road trip, Washington dropped the first of six home games. The Nationals have won just five of their last 17 games at Nationals Park and lost their third in a row to the D-Backs.
Tonight, John Lannan aims to continue his solid pitching and pick up the first win by a Nationals starter since Collin Balester on July 1st.
Arizona, who has won two straight, but only three of their last 10 road games, sends Micah Owings to the hill.
Pitching Match-Up
LHP John Lannan (4-9, 3.60) is still looking for his first win in nearly two months. He hasn't won since beating the Orioles, 2-1, on May 18th. In that game, Lannan gave up one run on four hits in 7 1/3 innings.
Since his last victory, Lannan is 0-5 with a 3.83 ERA and three no-decisions. He continues to be hurt by the Nationals lack of offense. He is getting the least amount of run support in the Majors at just 2.43 runs per game.
Lannan is making his second career start against the Diamondbacks. In his only other start, August 11, 2007, he gave up one run on four hits in seven outstanding innings, but suffered the 1-0 loss at Chase Field. Eric Byrnes hit a 1-out single, stole second and scored on Justin Upton's 2-out triple in the fourth.
This is the eighth start at Nationals Park for Lannan, and he hasn't had much success. He is 1-5 with a 5.50 ERA. Eight of the 12 home runs he's surrendered and 15 of the 32 walks have come in home starts.
RHP Micah Owings (6-7, 5.15) is winless in his last six starts, going 0-5 with an 8.28 ERA. He pitched 2/3 of an inning of relief on July 4th. Owings missed his last start due to an injured gluteus muscle suffered in his previous start while running to cover first base.
Washington tagged Owings for six runs on eight hits in 6 1/3 innings on May 30th in the Nationals 7-4 win. With the game tied 3-3 in the seventh, Willie Harris hit a 3-run homer off Owings to hand him his third loss of the season. That loss was the first of five in six games during his winless streak.
Owings is making his fourth career start vs. the Nationals. He is 1-1 with a 3.57 ERA while holding Washington to a .206 average. This is his 10th road start this season. Owings is 3-4 with a 4.84 ERA away from Arizona.
Owings was practically unbeatable to start the season. He went 4-0 in five April starts. Since then, he hasn't been the same pitcher. He was 2-3 in six May starts and he didn't win any of his five starts in June, going 0-4.
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