Nationals versus Orioles: Spring Training Game Recap

Yesterday, March 3, 2020’s game, stood scoreless for the 3753 people in attendance until the third inning. The Orioles faced off against the Nationals at FITTEAM Ballpark in West Palm Beach, spring training home to the Nationals and the Astros.

Innings 1 and 2

Max Scherzer stood on the mound for the first four innings of the game yesterday. In the first inning, he had one walk, two strikeouts and Hanser Alberto hit a pop fly into centerfield for the first out of the game.

Ty Blach started on the mound for the Orioles with a 1, 2, 3 inning, striking out Trea Turner batting first and the following two batters grounding out.

Jose Iglesias batted first for the Orioles in the top of the second and had a ground single to right field. However, during his run to second after a ground ball by Pedro Severino, Iglesias is forced out. The other two outs of the inning came as strikeouts from Rio Ruiz and Mason Williams.

Bottom the third, Blach walks the first two batters, Juan Soto and Howie Kendrick. With men on first and second, Asdrúbal Cabrera hits a ground ball into a double play; only Soto advances but is stranded on third as Kurt Suzuki grounds out.

Inning 3

During Chris Davis’ turn up to bat for the Orioles in the third inning, he sent a sacrifice fly into deep left field. Hanser Alberto, who previously had a line drive single into left field, crossed home plate putting up the first point of the game. No more runs were scored by the Orioles for the inning as Ryan Mountcastle lines out afterward. 1-0 Orioles.

The Nationals answered back though. Michael Taylor had a single to open up the bottom of the third. Jake Noll lined out but was followed by a double from Turner, putting men on second and third. Andrew Stevenson had a single afterward, bringing Taylor home and Turner to third. Blach proceeded to walk Starlin Castro, loading the bases for the D.C. team. Soto went up to the plate and hit a fly ball onto the fence in left field, bringing two men home and advancing himself to second base. Kendrick hit a line drive into right field bringing yet another man home for the Nationals and at 4-1 with one out, Baltimore had a pitching change.

Cesar Valdez replaced Blach on the mound. Cabrera hit a sacrifice fly into right field followed by Suzuki striking out, ending the inning. 5-1 Nationals.

Inning 4

Iglesias has a single but is called out on his run to second. Ruiz then sends a ball into right field for a double, preceding a pitching change for the Nationals. Dakota Bacus came in to replace Scherzer. Severino had a line-drive triple into right field that brought Ruiz home for the Orioles. Then Williams had a single that brought Severino the rest of the way home. Diaz had flyout and Alberto had a forced out, ending the top of the fourth. With a score of 5-3 Nationals, neither team proceeded to score for the rest of the day.

Michael Rucker replaced Valdez on the mound for the bottom of the fourth. The Nationals proceeded to have a strikeout, lineout and fly out for another 1, 2, 3 inning, ending the fourth.

Innings 5 through 9

For the rest of the game, it was a defensive battle for both teams. Michael Taylor slammed into the centerfield fence to catch a fly ball from Ruiz for the third out of the top of the fifth inning.

Michael A. Taylor.

The "A" stands for "ALL-OUT."#SpringTraining // #NATITUDE pic.twitter.com/wYByFeee8i

— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) March 4, 2020

At the top of the sixth inning, the Nationals made six substitutions, both for their offensive and defensive lineups. In the bottom of the sixth, the Orioles made five defensive substitutions, giving up a single from the first batter, but striking out Taylor before getting a double play on Carter Kieboom and Noll.

In the top of the seventh, the Nationals had three more defensive substitutions along with a 1, 2, 3 inning.

At the bottom, the Orioles made four more substitutions and also had a 1, 2, 3 inning, all on groundouts.

The top of the eighth inning was 1, 2, 3 outs with two strikeouts and a caught ball by shortstop Bryan Holaday.

The bottom of the eighth went a bit slower. Luis Garcia grounded out, Jacob Wilson got walked, Yadiel Hernandez had a ground ball that forced Wilson out at second, Kieboom hit a single putting men on first and second and Emilio Bonifacio ended the inning by striking out.

With a 1, 2, 3 inning the game ended with a Nationals victory 5-3 over the Baltimore Orioles. This was the first loss for the Orioles in the past week.

The #Orioles' first loss in a week came at the hands of the Nationals. https://t.co/FTPqdXM6Xw

— Orioles on MASN (@masnOrioles) March 3, 2020