If we were to say to you that the Washington Nationals would be in First place in the NL East in the middle of April, you would have laughed at me; heck, I would say that you are crazy. Well, don't look now; the Washington Nationals are in the first place and a half of a game ahead of the Philadelphia Phillies.
Now the real work begins: Maintain the positive momentum with the Braves coming to town on Tuesday for a three-game series.
Before we get to the Braves, let's talk about the sweep of the Maimi Marlins over the weekend. On Friday, we finally saw the 2021 debut of Jon Lester in a Washington Nationals uniform. The Nationals were able to walk off a win on the back of another former Chicago Cub: Kyle Schwarber, with a two-run home run in the 10th inning.
On Saturday, needing a solid performance himself, Patrick Corbin delivered just what the doctor ordered: seven innings of two run-ball on only 93 pitches.
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Corbin ended his 10-game losing streak, pitching seven solid innings and leading the Nationals over the Miami Marlins 7-2. A highlight of Saturday's game was a two-out RBI double by the slumping Josh Bell.
The 31-year-old Corbin posted his first win last August. A two-time All-Star with Arizona, he signed a $140 million, six-year deal with the Nationals before the 2019 season and was a key member of their staff as they went on to win the World Series.
Now, moving to today, and the Washington Nationals on the verge of their first series sweep of 2021, the National sent in their Ace Max Scherzer, hoping that his last start against the Blue Jays was just a hiccup. It turns out the Scherzer that we saw on Tuesday was, in fact, a hiccup.
Today, the future Hall of Famer, Scherzer, went the distance giving up only one run on pitching 106 pitches over nine innings. Scherzer finished the day with nine strikeouts, five hits, and no walks during the game. He only needed to pitch 76 strikes to finish the Marlins and help move the Nationals to .500 on the season.
In addition to a great performance from the Nationals Ace, the team saw another great hitting performance from their Face of the Franchise: Ryan Zimmerman. Zimmerman hit a three-run home during today's game to center on an 0-2 pitch, which gave him a total of four home runs so far this season. Zimmerman is 15-45 with four home runs, 10 RBI's while only playing in 16+ games.
By winning today's game, the Nationals not only had their first series sweep, but they are also now on a four-game win streak and at .500 for the first time in 2021 and first place in the NL East, yes, I said, first place in the NL East...
Bring on the Braves!