Nationals win in 13th, despite Strasburg’s blown lead
By Corey Leahy
Stephen Strasburg was just one single out from a complete game, leading the Chicago Cubs 4-1, until they were able to come back and tie the game. The game started off with a two hour rain delay, and ended up lasting longer than a normal game as well, as it went into extra innings.
That is, until center fielder Denard Span came to bat in the thirteenth inning. He started the inning with a double, and was able to score a few batters later. He moved to third base on a sacrifice bunt by fellow teammate Steve Lombardozzi, and then scored on a ground ball, hit by Chad Tracy, a pinch hitter.
The thirteenth inning win for the Washington Nationals came against Cubs pitcher Michael Bowden who is 1-3 on the season following the loss. The win didn’t go to Strasburg however, it went to Craig Stammen, now 7-5, who only pitched for two innings of the game.
The win didn’t really do too much for the Nationals, other than boost their win total by one digit. They are still 14.5 games back of the NL East leading Atlanta Braves, and 9.5 games back of a wild card berth. However we are about to begin September, and we’ve seen stranger things happen right before the playoffs, so you can’t call any team out until it is statistically impossible to reach the playoffs.