Mike Leake Stellar For The Reds, Nats Lose 5-1

Photo By Max Cook
Photo By Max Cook

Luis Atilano’s career high seven innings pitched and six strikeouts in Saturday’s game versus the Cincinatti Reds was not enough to secure a victory for the Washington Nationals.

Reds starter Mike Leake held the Nationals scoreless through four innings and continued to outplay both the Nats and his own team while owning a 1.55 ERA in his last eight starts and driving in run support for himself.  The rookie is hitting .417 after tonight’s game where he hit two singles and scored a run.

To make matters worse for the Nats, Manager Jim Riggleman got tossed in the eighth from arguing a call along side shortstop Ian Desmond due to a play at third base caused by a wild pitch thrown by Tyler Walker.

First Desmond’s ejected in game one, then Riggleman’s tossed in game two. Things at Nats Park are getting tense as Washington seeks to strengthen their Win-Loss ratio to bring themselves back to the .500 mark.

What’s to blame for the Nats 5-1 loss? Hits with no run support to back them up. The Reds had ten total hits on the night, which is just two more than the Nats, the difference being the Reds scored in clutch situations and the Nats continued to struggle on the defensive end with a total of three errors on the night.

Right-hander Craig Stammen (1-2, 5.88) takes on Bronson Arroyo (5-3, 4.92) Sunday to close out the Reds series before the Pirates come to town for Stramas on Tuesday.

Rachel moved to DC in the fall of 2005 to study Journalism and Music at American University. When she’s not keeping up with the latest Major League Baseball news, she works on making music as an accomplished singer-songwriter and was even a featured performer/speaker at TEDxDupont Circle in 2012. Rachel has also contributed to The Washington Examiner and MASN Sports’ Nationals Buzz as a guest blogger. See why she loves DC. E-Mail: rachel@welovedc.com.

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2 thoughts on “Mike Leake Stellar For The Reds, Nats Lose 5-1

  1. On a side note, a stray throw between innings sailed over Adam Dunn’s glove and straight into the head of a 10 year old boy sitting in the front row. The medics took him away but he returned after a half hour with a giant bump over his eye. He was given a shiny MLB bat by Adam Kennedy to make up for it. :)

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