With just four hits on offense, albeit with the scrubs, Washington was the narc caught at the St. Louis biker rally for a 9-0 loss this afternoon.
Gio Gonzalez took the brunt of the beatdown, giving up eight runs (all earned) on 10 hits and four walks over three and two-thirds of an inning. He threw 85 pitches, 50 for strikes, but walked four.
Steve Lombardozzi led off once again and went 1-for-3 while playing shortstop. He made three putouts and three assists during his five innings on defense.
Other notable minor-leaguers to see game action:
…Blake Kelso pinch-ran and played third base, executing on his only defensive chance for a 5-4 play to end the 8th. He went 0-for-1 at the plate with a groundout.
…Chris Rahl also pinch-ran and subbed in RF, where he had no defensive plays in two innings. He went 0-for-1 with a flyout.
…Destin Hood pinch-hit in the 8th and struck out, he played the 8th inning in RF but nothing was hit his way.
Tomorrow afternoon the Nats head for Kissimmeee to visit the Astros. Jordan Zimmermann gets the start, opposed by Bud Norris for Houston. The game can be heard on MLB Audio.
Luke – is there any way to follow the progress of the guys playing in minor league camp, like Purke, Rendon, ….? While I am interested in all the updates, the ones with injury concerns like those two are particularly interesting.
Also, do we know if Solis had his TJ surgery yet?
No, there isn’t. In a perfect world, yours truly would be down there trying to follow the chaos — it’s more like scrimmages with games going on simultaneously — but like I’ve written before, the time and budget are both lacking. Purke and Rendon are going to be assigned to Potomac so I’ll have a look at them soon enough.
As for Solis, from what I can gather he had the surgery three weeks ago.
OK, thanks. Next year, maybe take up a collection a la M.Zuckerman his first year? This year especially, with all the new guys and significant injury question marks like Purke/Rendon, I would have kicked in some $$ for a first hand look at how they are doing, especially if you could also cozy up to a few scouts for their feedback.
Re: Solis, I guessed I missed news of the actual surgery. Hopefully there were the usual ‘we fixed him up good’ comments afterwards?