CF Rick Ankiel crushed his first homer since Sept. 11, 2011 with a solo shot to center field off Carlos Zambrano to give Washington the early 1-0 lead. He finished 3-for-3 with a double and a homer. Earlier, Ankiel’s catch in mid-center and an on-target throw prevented RF Giancarlo Stanton from tagging up and scoring from third base. It is the second time in the home stand an opposing runner decided not to try to test Ankiel’s arm, when the Astros’ Jordan Schafer stayed at third on Monday night.
PH Chad Tracy was pitched around in the eighth inning to get to starting SS Ian Desmond. Desmond reacted by delivering a key infield RBI single that added the insurance run and gave the Nationals a 2-0 lead. “Smart move by them on paper, I guess,” Desmond said. “I took advantage of the at-bat. I wanted to see if I could stay on something tonight. I stayed on it enough.”
RF Jayson Werth started and played the entire game despite leaving Thursday’s loss with a sore hip. Werth went 0-for-3 and his average fell to .309.
LF Mark DeRosa will see his playing time drop even more as manager Davey Johnson attempts to simplify the outfield rotation. Johnson also said Chad Tracy would start at 1B or 3B on Saturday.
LHP Ross Detwiler matched a career high with seven strikeouts, but was taken out of the game after six innings. The last time he had seven strikeouts in a game was Aug. 17, 2011 versus Cincinnati. “I felt good,” Detwiler said. “But it goes back to Davey (Johnson) protecting us. Look at how our bullpen has done. It is easy to go to them.”
