The Washington Nationals exhaled on Thursday in Game 1 of their NLDS series with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Nats had two hits against four LA pitchers, and Washington pitchers issued seven walks, in a 6-0 loss at Dodger Stadium.
Patrick Corbin walked four in the first to plate the first LA run, and though he rallied to actually go six innings, allowing just a single earned run, that wild first set the tone.
First baseman Howie Kendrick had two errors, the second leading to an unearned Dodger run in the fifth.
Relievers Tanner Rainey and Fernando Rodney, predictably, couldn’t keep it close, giving up a pair of LA runs in the seventh, and then Hunter Strickland, being Hunter Strickland, was touched for a pair of solo homers in the eighth, to Gavin Lux and Joc Pederson.
Anthony Rendon is still not hitting – going 0-for-3 with a pair of strikeouts in the series opener.
Rendon, a late scratch from the NL MVP race, has gone 4-for-41 (.098) at the plate dating back to Sept. 17.
Game 2 is Friday night at 9:37 p.m. Stephen Strasburg (18-6, 3.32 ERA, 1.04 WHIP, 10.8K/9) gets the ball for the Nats, facing Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw (16-5, 3.03 ERA, 1.04 WHIP, 9.5 K/9).
Story by Chris Graham
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