Nationals Go to Church to Defeat Giants

Ryan Church had four hits, including a bases-loaded, bases-clearing double to break an 8-all tie in the top of the ninth inning, and the Washington Nationals defeated the San Francisco Giants 11-8. The Nationals move to 17-13 on the year.

Box Score and Recap

Church, filling in for the injured Termel Sledge, had four hits and drove in four runs. Brian Schnieder and Jamey Carroll had three hits each and Brad Wilkerson contributed two sacrifice flies. Jose Guillen came off the bench as a pinch hitter for starting pitcher John Patterson and had two hits and two RBI.

Patterson struggled, giving up four runs in three innings in what is easily his poorest outing of the year. Despite his problems tonight, Patterson still sports a 2.45 ERA. Zach Day came on in relief of Patterson, and apparently hasn't adjusted to his new role as long reliever. Day gave up four runs and recorded only four outs. On the bright side, the combination of Luis Ayala and Chad Cordero is making a formidable tandem, as they tossed two shut-out innings to win and save the game, respectively.

Giants' starter Jason Schmidt had his second straight poor outing, allowing six earned runs in less than four innings. On April 26, the Giants allowed Schmidt to throw 131 pitches against the Padres. His next start - originally scheduled for May 1 against Pittsburgh, was pushed back to the following day against Arizona because of - surprise, surprise - fatigue! Schmidt struggled against the D-backs, but Felipe Alou inexplicably left him in to throw 121 pitches in that game.

I guess it was no surprise that he struggled again tonight.