After blowing a 3-1 lead and falling behind 5-3 after 7½ innings, the Nats rallied for two in the bottom of the 8th. Both teams were able to get a runner on in the 9th, but neither could push him across for a 5-5 tie on Thursday afternoon.
MacKenzie Gore was dinged for four hits and a run over his two innnings of work. He walked one and struck one.
Jeter Downs was the only watchlister in the starting lineup, playing SS and batting 8th. He went 0-for-3 but stole his third base of the spring.
Here’s how the others fared coming off the bench or in from the bullpen:
- Jake Alu replaced Michael Chavis at 2B in the 6th. He singled in his first AB and grounded to short to plate the tying run in the 8th.
- Jeremy De La Rosa subbed for Victor Robles in CF in the 7th and drew a walk in the 8th.
- José Ferrer was the first man out of the ‘pen in the 3rd and rolled three groundouts in his only inning of work.
- Thad Ward was the second and worked around a leadoff walk with a whiff and a double play.
- Matt Cronin worked the 9th inning and put the go-ahead run on with a two-out single and his own error but got the final out on a flyball to left.
The Nats return to Port St. Lucie this afternoon to face the Mets and old pal Max Scherzer, who’s become the poster child for how pitchers will adjust to the new pickoff rule.
The game can be seen on MLB.tv (Mets feed, duh) and heard on MLB Radio (Nats feed).