Gio Gonzalez scuffled during the first postseason game a Washington baseball team has played in during the past 78 years. He only gave up one hit in five innings, but his outing featured a hellish second inning. After an Adam LaRoche walk, Ian Desmond single, Kurt Suzuki knocked in LaRoche to make a 1-0 Nats lead. Gonzalez then walked four and threw a wild pitch resulting in two runs for the St. Louis Cardinals.
The Cardinals never really got good wood on Gio's stuff, but he missed his spots badly. Home plate umpire Paul Emmel's inconsistent strike zone didn't help matters. Emmel had an embarrassingly poor game behind the plate. On several occasions, back to back pitches hit the same spot yet were called differently.
The Nats piled up six hits against Adam Wainwright, but failed to threaten following the second inning. In the seventh, Craig Stammen was working his second inning. A LaRoche error on a bad hop and two hits later, the bases were load with no outs. Ryan Mattheus forced a grounder to short by clean up hitter Alan Craig. Then, Yadier Molina grounded into a double play.
The Nats turned the momentum into runs int he top of the 8th. Michael Morse reached on a bad hop and Desmond got another hit. Danny Espinosa inexplicably bunted and Kurt Suzuki struck out. The Cardinals went with lefty Marc Rzepczynski to face pinch hitter Chad Tracy. Tracy was lifted and rookie Tyler Moore sent in. Moore slapped a single to right, scoring Morse and Desmond.
Tyler Clippard pitched a scoreless 8th and Drew Storen got the save int he 9th. The Nats stole one on the road and lead the series 1-0 thanks to the 3-2 victory.
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