Rendon displays power bat, Strasburg reaches 1,000 K (Reds win 6-3)

Rendon displays power bat, Strasburg reaches 1,000 K (Reds win 6-3)
CINCINNATI - The Nationals jumped on Reds starter Dan Straily early with two runs in the second inning. Wilson Ramos smacked a double with one out. Anthony Rendon followed with a two-run homer, his fifth of the season lined over the left field wall, to give the Nats their first lead of the series 2-0. Stephen Strasburg retired the Reds 1-2-3 in the first inning. In the bottom of the second, Jay Bruce crushed a 2-1 Strasburg offering over the left-center field fence, cutting the Nationals lead...
Continue reading

Baker met with Revere to try to get outfielder going at the plate

Baker met with Revere to try to get outfielder going at the plate
CINCINNATI - Nationals center fielder Ben Revere continues to struggle at the plate, going just 2-for-28 (.072) in the last seven games. Manager Dusty Baker decided to have a one-on-one meeting with the scuffling leadoff man to try to get him back on track. "He's struggling. I called Ben in today and I had a meeting with Ben," Baker said. "I explained to him it didn't take you two weeks to get in this hole and usually it takes you twice as much time to get out of hole as you got in a...
Continue reading

Dusty Baker reflects on the life and influence of Muhammad Ali

Dusty Baker reflects on the life and influence of Muhammad Ali
CINCINNATI - Legendary boxing great Muhammad Ali passed away at the age of 74 on Friday. Today, Nationals manager Dusty Baker had a chance to reflect on how important Ali was to him and his life as he grew up watching the boxer compete and become a champion. "It's a tremendous loss, especially at a time when I was a teenager and going through some turmoils in my life and the country," Baker said. "Muhammad Ali gave us all, especially young black men, a sense of pride and strength." Baker...
Continue reading

Game 56 lineups: Nats at Reds

Game 56 lineups: Nats at Reds
CINCINNATI - Right-hander Stephen Strasburg looks to get the Nationals on the board in their series at Great American Ball Park against the Reds in his 12th start of the season. And if he can win today, he will be the first 10-game winner in the majors this season. Strasburg has already reached a 9-0 start, the best in his career. He is the first Nats pitcher to with 12 straight decisions, with the club winning his last 15 straight starts. He suffered neck tightness last year in his start here,...
Continue reading

More from Gonzalez, Turner and Werth

More from Gonzalez, Turner and Werth
CINCINNATI - Nationals manager Dusty Baker said that pitching coach Mike Maddux and Gio Gonzalez continue to fine tune what is going on with the southpaw. He has now allowed 18 runs in his last three starts. "We got to go back to the drawing board and try to find a way for Gio to get it together because we need Gio," Baker said. "We need Gio that was in the month of April more than anything. Mike (Maddux) and him are working on things. He's got to continue to work. When things aren't going...
Continue reading

One "crooked number inning" dooms Gonzalez; Werth and Turner shine

One "crooked number inning" dooms Gonzalez; Werth and Turner shine
CINCINNATI - The second inning was the one bad inning for Gio Gonzalez this time around. The Reds scored four runs on six hits in the second Friday night en route to a 7-2 victory over the Nationals to open their three-game set at the Great American Ball Park. It was the second inning May 28 against the Cardinals when Gonzalez allowed four runs. It was the third inning May 23 versus the Mets. He gave up five in that frame. It's added up to three losses in a row. But Gonzalez kept battling...
Continue reading

Reds get to Gonzalez with second inning barrage (Nats fall 7-2)

Reds get to Gonzalez with second inning barrage (Nats fall 7-2)
CINCINNATI - Left-hander Gio Gonzalez has struggled his last two starts, allowing 13 combined runs in back-to-back losses. Gonzalez worked through bottom of the first unscathed. It was the 31st consecutive first inning he had not allowed a run. But in the second inning with no one out, the Reds connected on four consecutive base hits. Adam Duvall started with a double off the left field wall. Eugenio Suarez brought him home with a run-scoring single and the Reds lead 1-0. Billy Hamilton...
Continue reading

Baker on return to Cincinnati and how he will monitor Harper tonight

Baker on return to Cincinnati and how he will monitor Harper tonight
CINCINNATI - Nationals manager Dusty Baker admitted it was a bit odd in his return to Cincinnati for the first time since he managed here for six seasons from 2008-2013, this time on the visitor's team bus. "It was a little strange on the bus last night coming in because ordinarily I'd think I'd be coming off a road trip coming back to my place and what the series was gonna be coming up or what the last series on the road was like coming home," Baker explained. He finished with 509...
Continue reading

Trea Turner returns: "This is where everybody wants to be"

Trea Turner returns: "This is where everybody wants to be"
CINCINNATI - Jersey No. 7 is hanging in his locker. Trea Turner is back in the majors for the first time in 2016. With Ryan Zimmerman away for paternity leave, the Nationals' top offensive prospect has returned to the Nationals and will start at second base in Friday's series opener against the Reds. "Feels good," Turner said, sitting in the visitor's dugout hours before the game. "This is where everybody wants to be and to get another opportunity to do it. It's fun and I'm going to try...
Continue reading

Game 55 lineups: Nationals at Reds

Game 55 lineups: Nationals at Reds
CINCINNATI - The Nationals arrive in Cincinnati off to another fast start on a long road trip. Last month, the Nationals started a 10-game road trip 5-1 through St. Louis and Kansas City. This time, they swept the Phillies. As they arrive at Great American Ball Park, they stand 3-0 at the beginning of a nine-game, three-city, 11-game road trip. The club made one change to the roster for the weekend. Nats No. 2 prospect infielder Trea Turner has been recalled from Triple-A Syracuse because Ryan...
Continue reading

Nats recall Trea Turner, Ryan Zimmerman heads to paternity list

Nats recall Trea Turner, Ryan Zimmerman heads to paternity list
CINCINNATI - The Nationals have recalled infielder Trea Turner from Triple-A Syracuse andhas placed first baseman Ryan Zimmerman on the paternity list. Turner has joined the team here and will be in uniform for tonight's first game of a three-game series. Zimmerman's wife, Heather, welcomed their second child, a baby girl, on Thursday. The 22-year-old Turner is the Nationals' No. 2 overall prospect, according to Baseball America. He is hitting .310 and has a .376 on-base percentage in 50...
Continue reading

Updates on Fedde, Belisle, Bostick and a trip to Cincinnati

Updates on Fedde, Belisle, Bostick and a trip to Cincinnati
One of the top pitching prospects in the Nationals system is on the seven-day disabled list. Right-hander Erick Fedde was diagnosed earlier in the week with mild oblique soreness. Fedde is 3-3 with a 5.00 ERA in nine starts for Single-A Potomac. He has not allowed a run in his last two starts, May 23 and 28, combining for 11 scoreless frames. * What a doubleheader for David Masters yesterday with Potomac. He finished with six RBIs in the two-game sweep. He had the game-winning hit in the first...
Continue reading

Nats clubbing homers and scoring late to key recent streak

Nats clubbing homers and scoring late to key recent streak
The Nationals have hit 14 homers in the last six games. The four homers, including Stephen Drew's inside-the-park roundtripper, were the most hit in a game by the Nationals since five homers on May 24 against the Mets. They also hit four homers on April 19 at Miami. Last season, the Nationals hit four or more home runs on May 8, May 19, June 16 and September 14. The Nationals have made it a habit of scoring late in their last four games. Since Saturday's game, the Nationals have plated 14...
Continue reading

Minor league updates on Giolito, Robles, Marmolejos and others (updated)

Minor league updates on Giolito, Robles, Marmolejos and others (updated)
Right-hander Lucas Giolito has now won three decisions in a row following Monday afternoon's 3-2 victory at Akron. Giolito (3-2) pitched six innings, allowing one run on three hits, with four walks and six strikeouts. His ERA is now 3.17. Opponents are batting .238. In his last four starts, he has surrendered only four earned runs. He also has allowed only seven hits in his last 13 innings. 21-year-old Giolito has walked 12 batters in those last four games. Left-handed hitting high Single-A...
Continue reading

Nats displaying power, but Baker wants more in front of taters

Nats displaying power, but Baker wants more in front of taters
The Nationals offense ignited Sunday, scoring 10 runs one day after allowing the most runs they had in a game this season in 9-4 loss. For most of the season, the Nationals' starting rotation has controlled games, usually for seven innings, keeping the score down and allowing the offense to put together just enough run support to eek out 4-3 or 2-1 or 5-3 wins. But Sunday's power display demonstrated what this offense is capable of when more than one cylinder is firing at the same...
Continue reading

Strasburg's changeup elevating his game to new heights

Strasburg's changeup elevating his game to new heights
Although Stephen Strasburg allowed a home run to Brandon Moss on a changeup, it's becoming a pitch that is another way for the right-hander to get hitters out. Strasburg arrived in the major leagues with a lethal fastball and it is still there. But it is his other pitches, like the curveball and now the changeup, that are becoming consistent out pitches that help elevate him to an elite category. "I think my ability to command my other pitches has really opened it up a little bit more,"...
Continue reading

Werth's grand slam puts exclamation point on Nats' 10-2 win

Werth's grand slam puts exclamation point on Nats' 10-2 win
Jayson Werth's most celebrated home run of his Nationals career came against the Cardinals to force Game 5 in the 2012 National League Divisional Series. Werth provided another memorable moment against the team from St. Louis on Sunday. Coming off the bench in the seventh, Werth hit his first pinch-hit grand slam to help the Nationals down the Cardinals 10-2. What a way to spend a day off. It was the Nationals' 30th victory of the season. The win got the Nats a split in the four-game series...
Continue reading

Zimmerman on 4-for-4 night: "I felt good for awhile"

Zimmerman on 4-for-4 night: "I felt good for awhile"
It was in a loss, but Ryan Zimmerman demonstrated again that he is coming around at the plate. Zimmerman went 4-for-4 with two singles, two homers and three RBIs in the Nationals' 9-4 setback to the Cardinals. Zimmerman has hit .387 (12-for-31) with five homers, six runs and eight RBIs the past eight games. "It felt good. Any time you do that, it always feels good," Zimmerman said. "You wish can do it in a win. For me, I just got to keep going, keep working like I always do. By the end of...
Continue reading

Cardinals jump on Gonzalez early, go on to win 9-4

Cardinals jump on Gonzalez early, go on to win 9-4
A Nationals starter gave up a big inning early in his outing for the second straight game. Similar to Friday night, a 6-2 loss to the Cardinals in which Max Scherzer allowed five runs in the third inning, lefty Gio Gonzalez had a difficult second inning. The Cardinals scored four runs with two outs in that inning, highlighted by an Adam Wainwright two-run double. They later added a two-run double from pinch-hitter Matt Adams in the eighth and went on to win 9-4. The big problem for Gonzalez was...
Continue reading

Lobaton back with Gonzalez, but not because lefty didn't mesh with Ramos

Lobaton back with Gonzalez, but not because lefty didn't mesh with Ramos
Jose Lobaton will be behind the plate tonight against the Cardinals, resuming his regular battery with left-hander Gio Gonzalez.Wilson Ramos got the unusual call to catch for Gonzalez in his last start May 23 in a 7-1 loss to the Mets. Gonzalez struggled, going five innings and allowing seven runs on 10 hits, including three homers, with no walks and seven strikeouts. Nationals manager Dusty Baker said Lobaton is back catching Gonzalez, but not because because Ramos called a bad game or the...
Continue reading