It was hard to tell which was colder: the windchill or the Nats bats, as the Potomac Nationals were shut out 3-0 on a blustery Wednesday night in Woodbridge.
Potomac batters pushed just three balls out of the infield (all flyouts), while Myrtle Beach starter Joe Wieland was sensational in striking out 13 in six innings, with 67 of 92 pitches thrown for strikes. He had a no-hitter going through four and a third until J.P. Ramirez lifted a popup that Wieland himself misplayed. Thanks to the scorekeeper’s indifference to questionable interpretation of Rule 10.05a(4), the error was ruled a hit.
Infield singles to second base by Eury Perez in the sixth, via a cricket swing on a ball in the dirt, and Cutter Dykstra in the eighth were the only other hits on the night for Potomac.
But the game was not without moments of fire, as two P-Nats were ejected. The first came in sixth inning as Trevor Holder took exception to field umpire Matt Jones’s call of safe on the footrace between him and Leury Garcia to the first base bag. There was a small scrum as both Holder and first baseman Steve Souza took turns jawing, while players attempted to pull them away but ultimately Holder spiking the ball was the tipping point and sent him packing.
Jeff Kobernus was the second to be ejected, upset with the same umpire’s call made from across the diamond (Cutter Dykstra was on second base at the the time) on a slow roller to third that he appeared to have beaten out. Much like Holder, Kobernus throwing down the helmet made the umpire’s decision to listen or eject a moot point.
With the loss, Potomac drops to 10-15 for the season and heads out for yet another road trip, swinging through North Carolina to face Kinston for four games tonight through Sunday, then Winston-Salem on Monday through Wednesday before heading home next weekend to host Wilmington.