Nats, Cards Play to 1-1 Tie

A 9th inning HR off Nick Lee took away a possible 1-0 win from the Nats, but the longtime Nats farmhand may have suffered another serious elbow injury as he left the game one pitch later.

Taylor Hill put on the game-winning run on with a one-out walk but got a popup and a grounder to prevent the loss.

The Nats mustered just three hits and one walk for the game. They were 0-for-4 with RIP and left on five baserunners.

Washington’s lone run scored in the 3rd as Wilmer Difo led off with a single, took third on an errant pickoff attempt, and scored on a ground out to short stop.

Gio Gonzalez made his second spring start and allowed just two baserunners over three scoreless innings. Brian Goodwin and Pedro Severino were both starters and both went 0-for-2.

Here’s a rundown on how the watchlist players did:
• Jimmy Cordero struck out two in the 6th without allowing a baserunner.
• Osvaldo Abreu replaced Difo at SS and flew out to RF in his sole at-bat.
• Matt Skole took over at 3B from Corban Joseph and went 0-for-1 with a walk.
• Andrew Stevenson subbed from Brandon Snyder in RF and singled in two trips to the plate to raise his spring average to .375.
• Rafael Bautista followed Michael Taylor in CF and rolled into a 4-6-3 DP to erase Stevenson.
• Raudy Read was the second catcher and grounded out to third to end the 7th.
• Victor Robles flew out to CF and was not hit by a pitch. He played RF on defense, with Stevenson sliding over to LF.

The Nats return home to host the Twins at BotPB on Sunday afternoon. The game can be heard locally on 106.7FM.