There was no shortage of excitement in this Friday night battle between the Washington Nationals and the San Diego Padres. Plenty of situational hitting and perfectly placed balls let to offensively charged action and a walk off by the Padres.
The Padres pitching staff had a surprise bullpen day as starter Nick Margevicius went only three and two thirds innings and relievers Miguel Díaz, Robbie Erlin, Matt Wisler and Adam Warren finished out the final five and one third innings.
Nationals’ right-hander Erick Fedde put together a quality start, going six innings and giving up three earned runs on five hits while striking out five Padres batters. By reaching the six-inning mark Fedde posted his longest start of the season by an inning and was able to keep his team within striking distance as well. Despite throwing a no decision, this is definitely something for the young starter to build on.
Rookie Fernando Tatis Jr. provided the jumpstart that the Padres’ offense needed to get going and Austin Hedges finished the game off with a hard hit single to walk it off for the Friars. Tatis had three hits, setting a new career high and sent a moonshot to deep center field into the Padres’ bullpen.
Hedges recorded his first career walk off hit tonight. The Padres’ catcher was interview after his game ending hit and said of his team, “We’ve got so much faith in each other. No matter whether we’re down or we’re up, we expect to do it every day”.
The Nationals’ offense was led tonight by three two-hit performances from Howie Kendrick, Brian Dozier and Yan Gomes and they were on their way back to the win column but could not add insurance in the ninth inning after taking the lead.
A strong effort by both teams made for an eventful game and an exhilarating finish. These teams will meet again tomorrow night for a game three matchup between Nationals’ ace Max Scherzer and Padres’ Southpaw Eric Lauer.
Thomas Gaudio Baseball Journalism 