Detwiler dominant early in debut

By Dan Kolko

Nationals

April 10, 2012, 4:41pm

Comments

FLUSHING, N.Y. - If the Nationals can get this type of effort out of their fifth starter every time, they'll be a happy bunch. Ross Detwiler has thrown four sparkling scoreless innings so far tonight, holding the Mets to just two hits and striking out six. Ruben Tejada doubled to lead off the game and Ronny Cedeno followed with a single to left, but since then, it's been all Detwiler. The lefty has retired 12 of the last 13 he's faced and has only allowed a single ball out of the infield - a fly out to right off the bat of Scott Hairston - following the two hits. The guy has been that good. Detwiler's velocity has been down a notch tonight, as he's sitting around 89-90 mph with his fastball and has touched 93, as compared to the 93-95 that he threw last season. But if he's able to be this effective, Detwiler can throw at whatever speed he wants. The Nats took the lead in the first when Ian Desmond led off the game by smacking a home run to deep left. It was Desmond's third career leadoff homer. Since then, the Nats have threatened Mets starter Dillon Gee, but have been unable to scratch across anything more.