Nats answer back with shutout of their own
While Garret Mock wasn’t perfect Friday night against the Reds, he was damn good.
The rookie righty pitched six strong innings against Cincinnati, leading the charge that led to the eventual team shutout. Mock allowed only six hits and struck out six Reds batters. He also let up an unsettling four walks.
Jorge Sosa, Sean Burnett, Jason Bergmann and Mike MacDougal combined for three innings of two hit, no run, pitching out of the bullpen. MacDougal earned his 12th save of the year, and his MLB leading sixth save of the month.
The Nationals bats combined for only six hits and five walks, but converted two runs on solo shots by unusual suspects Ronnie Belliard and Wil Nieves.
Adam Dunn was 0-1 in the game with three walks against his former team. While a Cincinnati Red, Dunn received much criticism for his high strikeout rate. Dunn has yet to whiff this series.
It appears Josh Willingham has come back down to earth after unbelievable months of June and July which saw him bat .368/.415/.526 and .330/.415/.648. In August he is batting .286/.400/,524.
Ryan Zimmerman’s hit streak ended as the third baseman went 0-4 with 2 k’s. Cristian Guzman went hitless in his second consecutive game. This marked the first time he had gone hitless in consecutive games since late July where he had a brutal 0-17 slump.