Nats throttled by Houston 11-4

By Dan Kolko

Nationals

April 19, 2012, 6:13pm

Comments

Two monster innings doomed the Nationals tonight. They were almost able to overcome the first. They had no chance of overcoming the second. The Astros put up five runs in both the first and sixth innings tonight, and cruised to an 11-4 win over the Nats, spoiling Washington's shot at a four-game sweep. Nationals starter Edwin Jackson allowed five runs over five innings of work, but the main damage was done in the sixth, after the Nats had crept back to cut the Houston lead to 5-4. Tom Gorzelanny came out of the Washington bullpen and promptly allowed hits to six of the first seven hitters he faced. The lefty gave up five runs in that sixth inning and one more in the seventh before his nightmare of an outing came to an end. Entering tonight's game, Gorzelanny's ERA sat at triple-zeros. When he walked off the mound at the end of the sixth inning, that ERA had jumped to 7.36. The Nats drop to 10-4 on the season and will welcome the Marlins into D.C. tomorrow for a three-game set.