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The Leading Logic In Sports Handicapping |
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ATLANTA (Ticker) -- The Washington Nationals finally bunched
together a couple of clutch hits.
All-Star Cristian Guzman drove in three runs and Willie Harris
and Paul Lo Duca added two RBI apiece as the Nationals on
Saturday cruised to an 8-2 triumph over the Atlanta Braves.
Washington's first three batters in the lineup, Harris, Lo Duca
and Guzman combined to go 7-for-14 and scored five runs. Austin
Kearns plated the other run for the Nationals, who halted a
three-game skid in winning for just the third time in 13
contests.
"We haven't been getting the big hit," Harris said. "Coming off
the break, hopefully it's a sign of change and we can take some
of this momentum into the ballgame tomorrow."
Big hits have been hard to come by for the lowly Nationals, who
limped into the All-Star break in their familiar last-place spot
in the National League East Division. However, Washington
(37-62), which entered Saturday with the worst record in
baseball and last in the majors with a .240 team batting
average, had no problem swinging the bats in this one.
Lo Duca opened the scoring in the third inning with an RBI
double and Guzman followed with a triple to make it 2-0 before
coming home on a sacrifice fly by Kearns. After Chipper Jones
got Atlanta on the board in the fifth with a run-scoring single,
Harris - a former Brave - delivered an RBI triple in the seventh
and scored on an infield hit by Guzman, giving Washington a 5-1
bulge.
"It's encouraging what we have done at the plate," Nationals
manager Manny Acta said. "We still have a long way to go, but I
like what I saw."
An inning later, run-scoring singles by Harris and Lo Duca and a
sacrifice fly by Guzman put the Nationals in front by seven.
The runs were more than enough for John Lannan (6-9), who
allowed one run, seven hits and three walks in six innings for
his team-leading 14th quality start. The lefthander, who struck
out four, posted his second straight win following five
consecutive losses.
"I really had to battle today," said Lannan, who was having
difficulty cutting his fastball in on righthanded batters. "I
just worked through it and got the team six innings. They hit
the ball pretty hard for loud outs. I was lucky to get out of
it."
Atlanta had plenty of chances against Lannan but was unable to
muster a significant rally. The club left the bases loaded in
both the fourth and fifth innings, plating just one run on a
broken play in the fifth.
Mark Teixeira and All-Star Brian McCann laced two-out singles in
the fourth before Lannan hit Jeff Francoeur to load the bases.
But center fielder Harris ran down Greg Norton's bid for an
extra-base hit in the left-center field gap to end the threat.
"I knew it was going to be in the gap," Harris said. "I ran
towards it. It kind of held up in the air. I ran after it very
hard and was able to come up with it."
Starter Jair Jurrjens ignited the Braves' tepid fifth-inning
rally by drawing a one-out walk and advanced to second on a
single by Gregor Blanco. Two batters later, Jones delivered a
base hit to right field, drawing Atlanta within 3-1.
Lannan loaded the bases by issuing a walk to Teixeira. McCann
followed with a hard liner to right field, which found the glove
of Kearns to end the inning.
"We had bad luck tonight. We scolded those two balls," Atlanta
manager Bobby Cox said. "They both got run down. That was the
name of the game tonight. We couldn't hit the ball any better.
But if they're at people and they run it down, it's baseball."
"It just wasn't our night," Teix
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