The Nationals came up on top last night, beating the Dodgers 7-6 in walk-off fashion in the bottom of the 11th inning.

This game was initially slated to start at 4:05, but a lengthy rain delay led the game to begin at 8:15 instead.

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The Dodgers were hot out of the gate with their first two batter getting hits, David Peralta eventually being brought around to score on a sacrifice flyout by Max Muncy before Jake Irvin wiggled out of the jam and settled into his start.

The Nationals answered back quickly with a run of their own in the bottom of the inning as CJ Abrams smoked a leadoff triple to deep right center, for Lane Thomas to bring him in one batter later with a sacrifice fly of his own.

Both pitchers settled in after the first inning coasting through the opposing lineups until the Nationals were finally able to break the stalemate in the bottom of the fifth. Luis Garcia singled and Dom Smith hit a sac fly bringing the score to 3-1 Nats.

That single was the first hit and RBI for Garcia since being recalled to the majors a couple of days prior.

In the sixth inning, the defense of Jacob Young once again took center stage as he tracked a hard-hit ball off the bat of Will Smith all the way back to the Geico logo on the right center field wall, making the grab and smacking into the wall somehow managing to hold on to it.

His defense helped Irvin get out of the inning which would end up being his last, with him going 6.0 and only allowing the one run from back in the first inning.

With Irvin out of the game, the Nationals handed the ball to Jordan Weems in the 7th who surrendered one run on a sac fly to Enrique Hernandez to bring the score to 3-2.

Both Lane Thomas and Max Muncy drove in three runs in tonight’s game, After trading sacrifice fly in the first they once again traded this time each of them hitting two-run shots in the 7th and 8th innings respectively, bringing the score to 5-4 heading into the ninth inning.

The Nationals then sent their closer, Kyle Finnigan into the game looking for his 26th save of the season. Unfortunately, the Dodgers were able to scratch across a run after Finnigan walked two batters on a single by Kolton Wong.

Both the Dodgers and the Nats plated their lead runners in the 10th which saw the Nationals load the bases with 1 out after tying the game only to get stonewalled by back-to-back ground outs to send the game to the 11th

The Nationals were able to keep the Dodgers scoreless in the top of the 11th and after Jacob Young laid down a nice bunt to move the runner to third, the Dodgers intentionally walked Abrams giving Lane Thomas his second opportunity to win the game for the Nats. But on the first pitch he saw, he grounded to short, lucky to avoid the double play.

The Nationals emptied their bench, pinch-hitting Joey Meneses for Carter Keiboom.

Joey Meneses stepped up to the plate in a tie game with two outs in the bottom of the eleventh and runners on second and third. Gus Varland sets and throws the first pitch. It bounces about 15 feet in front of home plate allowing Michael Chavis to sprint home sealing a wild walk-off victory for the Nationals.

Andres Machado gets his fourth win of the season, Gus Varland his first loss as the Nationals take game two of this three-game series, setting up a rubber match tomorrow at 1:35. We’ll see Trevor Williams take on an unannounced starter to decide the series.

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