Today is probably the apex of the spring for us in terms of names in the box scores, courtesy of the two split-squad games. The “regular” Nats took the home game, 8-2 against the Mets, while the “scrubs” played to a 5-5 tie with the Tigers on the road.
As teased on Twitter, the lament of the lack of offense appears to have been a reverse jinx of sorts in Viera, as the starters put up five runs over the first two innings. Adam LaRoche made his “A” game debut at the plate with a first-inning RBI single to plate Ryan Zimmerman, who doubled in two in second.
Chien-Ming Wang got roughed up for two runs on three hits and a walk over his two innings, but the ‘pen locked it down the rest of the way, led by Craig Stammen (3IP, 2H, 0BB, 4K). Atahualpa Severino contributed a scoreless inning, giving up two hits but fanning two.
Tyler Moore and Anthony Rendon connected on back-to-back doubles in the 7th while subbing for LaRoche and Zimmerman. Blake Kelso followed Ian Desmond at shortstop and hit a sacrifice fly, on which leadfooted Sandy Leon was doubled off first. Leon singled twice and scored a run otherwise, catching all nine innings.
Michael Taylor and Randolph Oduber both went 0-for-1 with Taylor drawing a walk in relief of Rick Ankiel and Jayson Werth, respectively.
Meanwhile, in Lakeland, the Nationals and Tigers played to a 10-inning 5-5 tie, with Steve Lombardozzi, Corey Brown, Jhonatan Solano, and Eury Perez getting starts.
John Lannan also got roughed up for two runs over two innings, including a one-out solo shot in the bottom of the first. The relief work here wasn’t as stellar, with Rafael Martin blowing a save in the bottom of the 8th after the Nats took a 5-4 lead in the top of the frame.
Here’s a rundown of how the minor-leaguers fared:
- Lombardozzi went 0-for-3 while playing 2B
- Brown went 1-for-4 with a HR while playing RF
- Solano went 0-for-2 while playing C
- Perez went 2-for-3 with a BB while playing CF
- Jeff Kobernus singled and scored a run after pinch-running for Lombardozzi
- Destin Hood drew a walk and scored but went 0-for-2 with SO, subbing for Bernadina in LF
- Carlos Rivero went 0-for-2 in relief of Mark Teahen at 3B
In the course of keeping track of the action this afternoon, I was alerted to Andrew Lang’s youtube channel, which I encourage folks to visit.