by Southern's Field Reporter
A’s 8, Nationals 7
It might have been the weather, or maybe the early time, or maybe everybody just wanted to be at home instead of out in the cold drizzle. Whatever the reason, Saturday morning’s minors game between the A’s and Nationals at SLL West Field started pretty sloppily.
The A’s were trying to maintain their undefeated start, while the Nats were looking to get their third win of the season. But the showers in the first inning also brought a shower of mishandled balls.
The Nats gave up five runs in the top of the first on walks and passed balls. The A’s also had trouble with the ball in the first. An infield single by the Nationals’ James Lykins turned into a two-run inside-the-park home run, due to a series of errors.
Both teams settled down after that.
Nationals pitcher Maria VanderLei came back in the second and struck out the side on fourteen pitches. But the A’s scored two more runs in the third. Alex Adams hit a triple deep to the left-center field fence that scored one run. Adams later scored to make it 7-4.
The Nats made a run at a comeback in the bottom of the sixth. Down 8-5, with one out, two Nationals batters got on base and came around to score on passed balls. Suddenly, the Nats were looking to tie with two outs.
But, it didn’t work. The A’s closer finished the game with a strikeout. The A’s kept an undefeated record, while bumping the Nats down to 2-3.
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