Ryan Zimmerman's 10th career walk-off homer beats Yankees 8-6

Yankees closer Andrew Miller had not allowed a single run in 17 appearances this year. In fact, the intimidating lefty had only surrendered three hits. Ryan Zimmerman dumped those numbers in the Anacostia River. With two outs in the bottom of the 10th and the game tied, Zimmerman smacked a 96 mph heater off the right field foul pole for a two-run walk-off homer to beat the Yankees, 8-6.

"It was real fair at the beginning, and at the very end it started to take a right turn," Zimmerman said. "I knew I hit it good enough, it was just gonna be a matter of whether it stays fair, and I got lucky to hit the pole and sometimes you just get lucky."

Zimmerman can call it luck if he wants, but the fact is that was Zimmerman's 10th career walk-off home run. Try out the names of the other guys in the history of the National League with 10: Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt, future Hall of Famer Albert Pujols and home run king Barry Bonds. The only two men with more: Hall of Famers Tony Perez (11) and Stan Musial (12).

"Pretty special isn't it? You don't realize things like that until it's pointed out," Nationals manager Matt Williams said. "It just means that he knows what he's doing. He hits to the situation like he did tonight. He got ahead in the count and got a good pitch to hit. He's got power to all fields, we know that. And tonight he hit the foul pole."

What makes it even more improbable is that the Nats trailed by four in the fifth inning after starter Gio Gonzalez was tagged for six runs. But the Nats battled back, scoring three in the bottom of the inning to pull within one. In the sixth, Wilson Ramos crushed a 3-0 fastball to tie it. But Zimmerman was 0-for-4 throughout the game with two strikeouts. He hadn't factored in the rallies before the dramatic 10th.

"That's great," Gonzalez said. "The guy had a rough night and all of a sudden becomes the hero of the whole game. That's unbelievable. It's just fun to watch. That's who he is. He's the captain. He's the face of the franchise."

Conincidentally, Zimmerman's two-run shot to beat the Yankees 3-2 on June 18, 2006, Father's Day, was the first walk-off homer of his career. There have been plenty of other memorable blasts, including the walk-off to beat the Braves with two outs in the bottom of the ninth in the inaugural game at Nationals Park.

"Just lucky to be in that situation that much," Zimmerman said. "It's obviously special, and something that once I'm done, I think I'll look back on and appreciate a lot more. Right now, I'm just happy for the win and be able to do something to help us win games. That's the important thing."

The 11th come-from-behind win of the season ties the Nationals with the Mets for first place in the National League East.

"We play to the end," Zimmerman said. "We know we have a lot of talent, so there's no reason to pack it in. We can do some special things in an inning or two. That's baseball. Very rarely are you gonna go out there and get a lead every night and just kind of cruise to a win. That's not really how it happens, so we understand that. I think the experience with this core group of guys that have been here for awhile now. ... That's what it takes to win. That's what it takes to get where we want to be. Nothing's gonna be easy."

It was also the third time the Nats have won with walk-off homers this year. And just like in the previous victories, and a few others, ace Max Scherzer was ready with the chocolate syrup shower for Zimmerman during his MASN postgame interview.

"That was a pretty aggressive celebration. But that's Max, so it's good," Zimmerman said, smirking.