Jacob deGrom delivered an outstanding performance against the Washington Nationals, pitching 7 scoreless innings. Mitchell Parker also had a notable outing, allowing only two runs (one earned) in 6 innings without walks. Despite the score, Parker's execution and effective pitches show promise for future games. A critical error by Robert Hassell III allowed two runs, which shifted the game's momentum. If the defense had performed better, the outcome might have been different, emphasizing how crucial defensive plays are in strategic games like this one.
In fact, after the first inning, Parker only gave up one hit, and that was a questionable call on a backhanded grounder that Jose Tena dropped. Parker gave up no walks in this game and might have had more than five strikeouts if the umpire wasn't squeezing him on the edges.
This was so similar to the play on Thursday where Hassell did the same and stopped running to play it into a hit. Good fielders meet the ball at the intersection of the X/Y axis.
If Hassell makes that play, we might be in a 0-0 game going into the 8th inning, and manager Dave Martinez would not have gone to Eduardo Salazar.
The Nats weren't going to win if they weren't going to score - but different ballgame quite possibly because you don't know what would have happened in a tight game.
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