CONGRATULATIONS to Ian Desmond!
First Grand Slam of Career
19 June 2013 Citizens Bank Park - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
In a season loaded with unfulfilled great expectations and riding a sub .500 to sometimes barely over .500 season wave Nationals fans finally had something big to cheer about. The Nationals avoided getting swept by the Phillies in game three of an already lost three game series thanks to shortstop Ian Desmond in extra innings. They also snapped a three game losing streak.
For most of the game the Nats were behind 2-0 after the Phillies took the lead off of a two run homer in the first inning. Then hope began to rise in the top of the seventh when Jayson Werth singled to bring home Ryan Zimmerman, cutting the Phillies lead in half. In the ninth just when all hope looked lost with two outs and two men on, Jayson did it again scoring Denard Span to tie up the game 2-2. As the Phillies got out number three their fans were enthusiastically grinning from ear to ear anticipating a win and a series sweep, but RHP Drew Storen held them and the game went into extra innings.
After a scoreless 10th inning things heated up in the 11th. After one out Ryan Zimmerman got on the bags with a double. The Phillies intentionally walked Adam LaRoche to get to their ex-teammate Jayson Werth (the man who batted in the Nats only runs in the game thus far). Jayson drew a walk to load up the bases. Next to bat Ian Desmond, who was 0-4 with a ground out and three strike-outs and looking about to whiff a fourth strike-out. Ian got to an even count of 2-2 on a ball 2 that all of Philadelphia thought for sure was a strike, then his bat struck gold sending the ball out left-center field putting the Nats ahead 6-2 and giving Ian the first Grand Slam of his Career. The next batter Steve Lombardozzi got a single and stole 2nd base but the next two batters flied out and struck out. The Nats then held off the Phillies to win 6-2.
I was only surprised that it was his first career Grand Slam I tend to forget how many actual runs were produced by each home run a player gets. The Nats leap-frog over the Phillies with this win to get back into 2nd place in the division 7 games behind the Braves.
Related Articles:
Nationals Save, Eat Face on Ian Desmond's Game-Winning Grand Slam - Capital Games (NBC4 Washington Blog)
Ian Desmond hits grand slam, gets #eatface trending on Twitter (Video) - Washington Post
Ian Desmond's grand slam in 11th leads Nationals over Phillies - Washington Times
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