The Potomac Nationals walked a season-high 13 times as they took down the Winston-Salem Dash by the final score of 6-2 to improve to 2-0 in the second half. Rehabbers Mark DeRosa and Carlos Maldonado played for Potomac and combined to draw three walks in the game.
The combination of Jon Bachanov, J.R. Ballinger, Jake Wilson, and Justin Collop combined to walk a season-high 13 batters for the Dash. They threw 178 pitches on the night and only 85 of them were strikes. In comparison, the Nationals did not walk a batter on the night.
In his second game with Potomac, DeRosa was 0-for-1 with two walks and scored once. He was removed from the game after playing seven innings at first base.
Maldonado, rehabbing a lower back injury, played five innings behind the plate for the P-Nats. He walked in his first plate appearance before striking out in his final two at bats.
The Dash scored in the opening half inning for the second consecutive night. Marcus Semien doubled off of Trevor Holder to start the game and came around to score on a two-out, RBI single by Dan Black to put Winston-Salem in front 1-0.
Potomac tied the game in the second inning with an unearned run. Michael Taylor led off the inning by beating out an infield single and advanced all the way to third base on a throwing error by catcher Miguel Gonzalez. Kevin Keyes brought him home with an RBI double to tie up the contest at 1-1.
Jason Martinson’s first RBI with the P-Nats gave Potomac their first lead of the night as his two-out, RBI single scored Ricky Hague to make it 2-1.
The Nationals tacked on three more runs in the fifth inning on only one hit. After Francisco Soriano flied out to begin the frame, Blake Kelso, Hague, and DeRosa all walked to load the bases. Two batters later, Martinson drew a bases-loaded walk to increase the lead to 3-1. Taylor followed that with a two-run single to push the P-Nats advantage to 5-1.
Potomac added another run in the sixth inning in a frame where a ball was never put in play. Randolph Oduber, Francisco Soriano, and Kelso all walked to begin the inning against reliever Jake Wilson. Despite battling back to strike out Hague and DeRosa Wilson hit David Freitas with a pitch to bring in Oduber and up the P-Nats lead to 6-1.
Trayce Thompson launched his 12th home run of the season down the left field line in the seventh inning to bring the Dash within four again at 6-2.
After allowing a run in the top of the first, Holder (4-2) settled down to pick up his fourth win of the season. He went seven strong innings allowing two runs on six hits while striking out five batters.
Bachanov (5-2) made the start for the Dash and struggled with his control all night long. He walked seven batters in four and one-third innings allowing five runs, four of them earned.
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Chris Graham
