Nationals back to .500 following 14-4 win over Astros
With the way the Washington Nationals have been playing this season, it was no surprise that the team reached the .500 mark again on Monday. The surprise, rather, was how they did it.
The Nationals defeated the Houston Astros 14-4 by forcing star pitcher Roy Oswalt to lose his cool, tagging him for four runs in just 2 1/3 before he was ejected by home plate umpire Bill Hohn following a 2-2 pitch to Josh Willingham, a ball. Oswalt yelled something and Hohn took exception to it. Despite Oswalt explaining that he was yelling at himself and not the umpire, Hohn tossed him anyway.
Oswalt walked three, clearly having trouble finding the strike zone during his brief outing. Adam Dunn delivered the biggest blow, hitting a three-run double in the third.
The Nationals blew the game wide open in the seventh inning, scoring nine runs on the strength of home runs by Ryan Zimmerman and Carlos Maldonado. Zimmerman finished 2-for-2 with three runs scored and four RBI.
Few could have predicted that Luis Atilano would out-duel Oswalt, but that’s exactly what happened. Washington’s rookie starter went 6 2/3 innings, giving up four runs (three earned) to improve his record to 5-1.
After the game, the Nationals announced that phenom pitcher Stephen Strasburg would be called up to make his major league debut on June 8 against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
