Last night’s game proved to be a rough start for the rookie Matt Chico. We were pulling for him; he deserves to chalk up a win, but will have to try harder after last nights performance. Chico gave up a career high 8 runs on 9 hits, and the Nationals gave up 6 runs in the 5th inning. It was painful to watch, but not once did us girls give up our heart. The Tigers lead the Nationals 9-1 when the boys had their first rally in the 6th inning, with the Nats scoring four times. Lopez hit another triple and Guzman scored. Zimmerman hit Lopez home after Tiger’s Guillen lost control of the ball. Young followed up with a great single, and Kearns walked to load the bases. Ryan Church hit an RBI single at the right moment, and Schneider had a great sac fly to make the score 9-5. What an exciting rally, who knew there would be more to come!
After a scoreless top of the 7th, we stood for the customary stretch. The girls and I were ready to dance to Shake it Up Baby as usual, but instead we were rewarded with our motto You Gotta Have Heart, we saw this as a sign, and expected big things from our boys during the rest of the game. We were not disappointed!
The game was scoreless until the bottom of the 9th with the Tigers leading the Nationals 9-5. Ryan Langerhans started off the Nats second rally of the game as pinch-hitter; he hit a great double. Next up…Robert Fick. As we posted on Sunday, Fick has been putting together some nice hits lately, and boy did he come through last night. Fick singled to left advancing Langerhans. Guzman followed up with a triple into the corner, and just like that the Nats were only down by 2! The rally was in full swing. Lopez singled Guzman home, the boys down by 1. With Zimmerman on first and Lopez on second, Young struck out after seven pitches. Kearns then grounded into a fielder’s choice and now there were two outs. With one shot left Ronnie Belliard was up. We had confidence in Ronnie, he had come through in this situation before, we had the highest hopes he could do it again.
It was pretty fun at this point to see all of the Tigers fans in the stadium sweating bullets, not only from the heat but from the excitement of the game! Nats fans were as loud as could be, these are the games we love…you just never know what might happen. Alas, Belliard swung at a breaking ball and grounded out. The Nats lost 9-8 after mounting a great comeback. I hope last nights performance showed everyone that these boys play hard no matter what. Our Nats proved last night that they have miles and miles of heart.
Let’s get ‘em tonight!
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