Bad Luck And Nationals Dominance Result In Sweep Of Pirates

Sometimes Strat teaches me a lesson. That was the case when the Nationals and Pirates clashed in a four-game series in Pittsburgh that honestly could not have gone worse for the home team. I recently was thinking about this crazy game we play and how lucky we are to have this league. How could someone ever have a bad time playing Strat!? Sure, the luck doesn't go your way at times, but could it really be that bad? 

Well, Steve went through some things last night that opened my eyes. The mild-mannered skipper reached his limit. Errors on his good defenders, maybe a 10% hit rate on ballpark home runs, then seeing maybe a 90% hit rate on the other side of the Teams call, guys thrown out stealing or trying to score ... Strat Roller broke him. I tip my cap to Steve for seeing this series through and I give thanks that we weren't in person, so a table wasn't turned over (not that Steve would do that anyway!) and there was no long drive home involved. Here's what went down:

Game 1 - Nationals, 7-4

W - Cease L - Peralta SV - Estevez 

HR - Chapman 2, Adames 2

Matt Chapman hit a first-inning grand slam and away we went. He added a third-inning shot as the Nats built a 6-0 lead, then 7-1, but ended up needing to summon Carlos Estevez to finish it out. Willy Adames homered twice for the Pirates and also doubled in a run in the ninth as they made a late charge. 

Game 2 - Nationals, 9-1

W - Honeywell L - Jones 

HR - Suzuki, Profar

The Nats scored in only two innings but bunched 5 in the 4th and 4 in the 6th to account for all the scoring. Seiya Suzuki hit a two-run shot and CJ Abrams' two-run double highlighted the early barrage. Carlos Rodon left the game injured after 3 innings but Brent Honeywell, Jojo Romero, and Grant Holmes took it the rest of the way, benefitting from some unfortunate Pirates rolls, including Jazz Chisholm being thrown out at home early when the game was still scoreless. 

Game 3 - Nationals, 10-5

W - Luzardo L - Schwellenbach

HR - Suzuki, Abrams, Chapman, Higashioka, Bohm

Abrams homered for an early lead, then three straight doubles in the third (including Victor Robles on his latest return from the IL) and a Suzuki fourth-inning home run were among the highlights. Kyle Higashioka's two-run shot in the third kept it close; an Andres Gimenez two-run single made it 8-4 in the fifth. There were 27 hits between the two teams and none of the pitchers stood out. LaMonte Wade Jr. was injured for 10 games. 

Game 4 - Nationals, 6-0

W- Williams L - Cabrera

HR - Suzuki

Suzuki homered for the third straight game and drove in 5 of the Nats' 6 runs. Trevor Williams sparkled for 6 innings and we got the hell out of Pittsburgh. 

Seiya Suzuki, along with Matt Chapman bring the lumber in their sweep of Pittsburgh.