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Dunn is twice as nice against Giants
By Jeremy Kahn July 9, 2010 |
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WASHINGTON-Facing Stephen Strasburg for the first time, the San Francisco Giants did not know what to expect against the phenom. Andres Torres greeted Strasburg by planting the fifth pitch that the right-hander threw off the second deck façade in right field to give the Giants a quick 1-0 lead. It was the seventh home run of the season for Torres, and the second time in his career that he led off a game with a home run. Unfortunately, it would not all for naught, as Strasburg settled down and was able to pickup his third win of the season and the Washington Nationals defeated the Giants 8-1 before 34,723 at Nationals Park. Torres was forced to leave the game in the top of the fifth inning with tightness in his left groin, and was replaced by Aaron Rowand. “I ran, and I felt something,” said Torres, who added that it came when Roger Bernardina hit a double in the first inning. Following the Torres home run, Strasburg retired the nine Giants in a row, until Freddy Sanchez walked off of him in the top of the fourth inning. The Nationals tied it up in the bottom of the first inning, on a botched pickup throw, when Matt Cain’s throw to second base went into center field, while there was no one covering at second base that allowed Bernardina to score. “That was my fault there,” said Cain. Bernardina doubled with one out off of Cain, after Nyjer Morgan struck out to lead off the inning against Cain. Adam Dunn put the Nationals into the lead for good in the bottom of the fourth inning, as he hit a solo home run off of Cain, it was the fourth home run in three games for Dunn, who hit three on Wednesday against the San Diego Padres at Nationals Park. Dunn added a second home run in the bottom of the seventh inning, giving him 22 on the season, it was the third multi home run game of the season and the 27th multi home run game of Dunn’s career. Dunn went three-for-four on the evening, including those two home runs , and he also added a double in the bottom of the sixth inning. Willie Harris, the nephew of former Giants infielder Ernest Riles also went three-for-four at the plate, with two singles and a double. It was the first three-hit game of the season for Harris, and he also drove in his first run since June 4 against the Cincinnati Reds, as Bernardina scored on a sacrifice fly Strasburg went six innings, allowing just one run on three hits, walking one and striking out eight, giving him 61 strikeouts in seven starts this season since being called up from Triple A Syracuse. Cain pitched 6.2 innings, allowing eight runs (seven of them earned), allowing 11 hits, walking three and striking out six. The Nationals added two more runs in the bottom of the sixth inning, as Dunn and Christian Guzman scored on a Wil Nieves single to right field. Alberto Gonzalez led off the bottom of the seventh inning with a triple, scored on a Morgan single and after Bernardina flyout to Pat Burrell in left field and a Ryan Zimmerman popout to Pablo Sandoval at third base, Dunn hit his second home run of the game. After a Guzman walk, Cain was replaced by Guillermo Mota, who promptly gave up a double to Harris that scored Guzman with the eighth and final run of the game for the victorious Nationals. NOTES: Dan Runzler was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a dislocated left patella that was suffered in Thursday’s win over the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park. Joe Martinez was recalled from Triple-A Fresno to take Runzler‘s place, and joined the team after being with the Fresno Grizzlies in Tacoma (Washington), where the Grizzlies played on Thursday night. “Out 6-8 weeks,” said Runzler about the injury. Runzler also added that the his knee was drained, and there was no damage to the Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL), or the Medial Collateral Ligament (MCL) to his knee, which was in a brace. Strasburg was the youth baseball teammate of Brett Bochy, the son of Giants manager Bruce Bochy and Thomas Neal, who plays for the Richmond Flying Squirrels, the Giants Double-A farm team. Brett played second base, while Neal was the shortstop and Strasburg was the pitcher for the San Diego Sting, while Bruce was the manager of the San Diego Padres back in 1999. This was the seventh win in their last 11 home games for the Nationals, who are now 25-19 at home this season. |
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