One Out Away But a Loss in Extras
The Nats led 3-2 in the bottom of the 9th but ultimately lost 4-3 in ten innings in Philadelphia on Saturday evening. Mark (From Philly) & Al examine the final two frames that saw Kyle Finnegan blow the save in the 9th and take the loss in the 10th. Finnegan retired the first two batters in the bottom of the 9th, but then gave up a game tying solo homer to Kody Clemens (yes, he is Roger Clemens' son).
(07:00) The game ended on a Bryce Harper sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 10th . There were runners on 2nd and 3rd and Al asks Mark if Davey Martinez should have intentionally walked Harper and faced Alec Bohm instead.
(16:00) MacKenzie Gore pitched very well and went into the bottom of the 7th. He did not reach 100 pitches in the outing, which is an improvement from a pitch efficiency standpoint. He has not yet given up more than three earned runs in any start so far this season.
(22:00) The offense collected 11 hits, but still only came through with three runs. The team has now gone five consecutive games without hitting a homer. CJ Abrams & Ildemaro Vargas each had a trio of hits on Saturday and Vargas' average is at .320 for the year.