Playing in the postseason for the first time since moving to Washington D.C., the Nationals played like a group of experienced veterans, coming from behind to beat the St. Louis Cardinals 3-2 on Sunday.
The team rallied in the eighth inning, scoring two runs with two-outs to take the lead and the first game of the series against the Cardinals. According to ESPN.com, no Washington team had won a playoff game in nearly 80 years.
"Not many people have probably watched too many Nationals games, but we have a great starting rotation and a great bullpen," said Ian Desmond to the Associated Press. "They keep us in the ballgame and some timely hits from this kid, and the rest of the guys coming off the bench, that's really been the formula."
Starter Gio Gonzalez was solid but not stellar, missing the strike zone a bit as he walked seven batters in five innings. Gonzalez won 21 games during the season and limited the damage against the Cardinals, giving up the walks but allowing only two runs on one hit.
"All the credit in the world goes to the bullpen," Gonzalez said. "I've been saying it all year. The reason why we've been so successful is these guys come in and shut it down."
Both teams had trouble during the day with the sunlight, which hung at a strange angle during the middle part of the game.
"He's hard to hit when you can see well and even harder when you can't," said Matt Holliday.
The Nationals took an early 1-0 lead in the first inning off of a Kurt Suzuki single, but were silenced the rest of the game until the crucial eighth inning. St. Louis bounced back in the second inning, scoring two runs off of a wild pitch by Gonzalez and a sacrifice fly from John Jay.
The eighth inning started off with an ominous sign for the Cardinals as rookie shortstop Pete Kozma committed an error on Michael Morse's leadoff grounder. Desmond added a single for his third hit of the game before a sacrifice from Danny Espinosa and a strikeout from Kurt Suzuki.
With runners on second and third and two outs, the Nationals sent pinch hitter Chad Tracy to the plate before the Cardinals brought in reliever Marc Rzepczynski. Washington manager Davey Johnson changed his mind on the matchup, bringing in Tyler Moore to face left hander instead.
Moore came through in a big way for the Nationals, hitting a single to score both runners and giving the Nationals a 3-2 lead. It would be all they needed.
"I was just trying to calm myself down and try to make some things happen and not strike out up there," Moore said. "I wanted to at least put something into play."
St. Louis starter Adam Wainwright was solid, striking out 10 in 5 2/3 innings, giving up only one run and six hits. According to ESPN.com, Wainwright is the first St. Louis starter to strike out 10 batters since Bob Gibson did it in 1968 in the World Series.
"This team is not hanging our heads," Wainwright said. "We can come back and win this easily."
The Nationals overcame a lot of difficulty to come away with the win on Sunday. Gonzalez was not sharp, allowing seven walks and the team struck out 13 times in the game. According to Jayson Stark at ESPN.com, Washington also hit two batters and only went 2-for-16 with runners in scoring position.
"It's not easy to watch," LaRoche confessed to ESPN.com, "because we all love the guy like a brother, and we want him to go out there and dominate like he can. So when he doesn't have it, we're all doing everything we can to help him through it."
Although Gonzalez wasn't at his best, the Nationals proved that they can win in the postseason when things aren't going totally their way, which is a huge part to any team's playoff success.
"I kept blowing in my hand, kept looking to do whatever I could to throw a strike," Gonzalez said. "The whole time I was just saying minimize the damage because things were spinning out of control. I just wanted to match everything Wainwright did. I was trying to keep up with him."
The bullpen was near-perfect for the Nationals on Sunday night, combining to pitch four innings, allowing no runs and only giving up three hits. Drew Storen came into the game in the ninth and closed it out for his first save of the playoffs.
The Nationals will try to continue their magical run on Monday as Jordan Zimmerman takes the hill against Cardinals starter Jaime Garcia.
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