| 29 June 2009
The Washington Nationals avoided a sweep at the hands of the Baltimore Orioles, as they emerged victorious, 5-3 on Sunday. The offense came alive as Adam Dunn hit a majestic two-run homer in the fourth inning that landed on Camden Yards famed Eutaw Street and Willie Harris added a solo home run of his own along with two more hits. Josh Willingham also contributed to the win with three hits on the afternoon, and two runs scored.
Southpaw John Lannan (5-5) -- who started the game -- was once again solid on the mound for Washington as he went 7 1/3 innings and was charged with three runs on six hits. Mike MacDougal pitched a scoreless ninth for his third save as a National. Meanwhile, for the Orioles, rookie starter David Hernandez (1-2) took the loss as he lasted 5 2/3 innings and gave up three runs.
Baltimore took a 1-0 lead in the second inning as a shaky John Lannan gave up a leadoff walk to Nolan Reimold, and then allowed Luke Scott to double before Oscar Salazar plated in a run with a single. After that, Lannan got out of trouble with a double play and pretty much kept the Orioles at bay until the eighth inning.
He was yanked from the game after allowing a leadoff double to Robert Andino in the frame followed by a Ty Wigginton single. Washington manager Manny Acta brought in Joe Beimel who allowed two runs to cross home plate after a Nick Markakis sacrifice fly and an Aubrey Huff RBI-single. However, Huff -- for reasons why don't know -- felt the need to extend a single into a double, but ended the inning and perhaps killed a potential rally.
Washington took a 2-1 lead in the fourth inning as Ryan Zimmerman led off the frame with a double, and then Dunn hit a homer -- his 19th -- estimated at 442 feet and amazed those in attendance. They added another run in the sixth as Elijah Dukes plated Willingham with a single, and then in the seventh, Willie Harris deposited a ball over the right field wall for a home run -- his fourth -- to make the score, 4-1.
Washington scored once more in the eighth as Josh Willingham scored from third thanks to an errant throw by Baltimore catcher Matt Wieters. Before Willingham crossed home plate, he stole third and after reaching base on a double.
The attendance on Sunday in Baltimore was only 25,068 down over 14,000 from the night before, and nearly 20,000 from Friday night.
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
