Nationals win first postseason game in 79 years

Tyler Moore hit a game winning 2 run double
(Jeff Roberson/AP)

On Sunday afternoon the first postseason baseball game in 79 years was played by a Washington D.C. Major League Baseball franchise.  The Washington Nationals, the pride of the nation's capital after winning an MLB best 98 games during the 2012 regular season, continued their historic season by defeating the St. Louis Cardinals 3-2 in game 1 of the NLDS.

Gio Gonzalez, a National League Cy young candidate after winning a majors leading 21 games this season, started the game for Washington.  Gonzalez gave up only 1 hit in 5 innings pitched, but struggled with his command and walked a season high 7 batters.  Gonzalez walked 4 in a wild second inning in which he gave up the only 2 runs of the game on a wild pitch that got by catcher Kurt Suzuki, and on a sacrifice fly by Jon Jay with the bases loaded.  Nationals manager Davey Johnson decided to trust his ace and allowed Gonzalez to continue to pitch for three more innings.

The Cardinals' starting pitcher Adam Wainwright, in his first season back from Tommy John surgery, struck out 10 batters in a masterful 5 and two thirds innings pitched.  Wainwright baffled the Nationals and demonstrated complete control of his knee buckling curve ball.  Wainwright only struggled for a brief stretch of the second inning during which Suzuki put the Nats on on the scoreboard first with an RBI single to the left field gap that brought home first baseman Adam Laroche.

Jayson Werth robbed the St. Louis of a home run
(Dilip Vishwana/Getty Images)

Two crucial momentum shifting defensive plays by the Nationals prevented the Cardinals from pulling away in the latter innings of the game.  In the 6th inning, right fielder Jayson Werth leaped over the right field wall and robbed Daniel Descalso of a 2 run homer that would have given the Cardinals a 3 run lead.  The second crucial event occurred after Washington relief pitcher Ryan Mattheus entered the game with the bases loaded and 0 outs in the 7th inning.  On the first pitch Mattheus threw, the Cardinal's Allen Craig hit a ground ball to Washington shortstop Ian Desmond who threw to home plate for a force out that prevented the Cardinals from scoring.  On the very next pitch, Mattheus got St. Louis catcher Yadier Molina to chase a pitch outside.  Molina hit a ground ball to third baseman Ryan Zimmerman, who flipped it to Danny Espinosa at second base.  Espinosa then leaped over a sliding Cardinal and threw the ball to Laroche at first base for the double play, allowing the Nationals to escape the dire situation unscathed.

Drew Storen struck out Matt Holiday
to end the game
(photo by Nir Levy)

In the top of the 8th inning with left fielder Michael Morse and Desmond both on base, rookie Tyler Moore pinch hit for Mattheus and hammered a 2 run double to put the Nats ahead.  Moore's hit was the biggest of the year for the Nationals and continued a trend of bench players coming up huge for the team.  Reliever Tyler Clippard and closer Drew Storen each disposed of all three of the batters they faced in the last two innings to retain the lead for the Nats.  Storen struck out 6 time all-star left fielder Matt Holiday on three pitches to end the game.
The series will continue tomorrow with the Nationals' Jordan Zimmermann facing Jaime Garcia of the Cardinals.