The Chicago Cubs defeated the Washington Nationals in the second game of their four-game weekend swing, 3-1. The Cubs pitching staff shut down the Washington hitters all day, only allowing the Nationals to get on the board on a James Wood eighth inning solo home run. Jameson Taillon threw six scoreless innings before turning the game and a 1-0 lead over to the bullpen for Nate Pearson, Tyson Miller, and Porter Hodge to get Chicago their second win of the series.
Dansby Swanson put the Chicago Cubs on the scoreboard in the first inning with a solo home run that barely rose over the left-center field basket. The Cubs took that 1-0 lead into the seventh inning when Mike Tauchman knocked in two runs on a pinch-hit single to give Chicago a 3-0 lead and some much-needed insurance. Tyson Miller escaped a bases-loaded jam in the seventh inning but gave up the Wood home run in the eighth to shrink the Chicago lead to 3-1. Porter Hodge made quick work of the Washington Nationals in the ninth to record his second straight save and get the win for the Cubs.
Chicago Cubs Take Low-Scoring Bout
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After Thursday night’s offensive explosion, Friday afternoon’s game between the Chicago Cubs and Washington Nationals provided a stark contrast. Much like how the 7-6 tally from last night’s game underestimated the level of offense in that game, the 3-1 score from today’s battle underestimated the success of the pitchers. Jameson Taillon and Trevor Williams carved through both lineups with ease in their starts. Taillon dealt with more traffic but avoided hard contact and got critical outs when he needed them, keeping the Nationals off the board for six innings in his fourth straight quality start.
Taillon was defending a precarious 1-0 lead for the final five frames of his outing, a lead obtained by Dansby Swanson in the first inning when he launched a home run off Williams for his 16th long ball of the year. Swanson’s bomb was the only offense of note for the Cubs until the seventh inning. Mike Tauchman pinch hit for Patrick Wisdom with runners at first and second in Chicago’s first at-bat with runners in scoring position all day.
After a wild pitch from Washington Reliever Eduardo Salazar allowed Nico Hoerner and Pete Crow-Armstrong to move up, Tauchman grounded a ball in between the first and second basemen into right field. With PCA motoring around from second, Joey Gallo never stood a chance on the throw and the Cubs extended their lead to 3-0. The insurance runs came after Washington squandered their best scoring opportunity of the day in the top of the inning.
Late-Innings Recap
With Taillon out of the game, Craig Counsell went to the bullpen and the success of the Cubs pitching staff ground to a halt. Nate Pearson got into a jam and wasn’t allowed to work out of it. After walking CJ Abrams to load the bases, Tyson Miller was called upon to try and get Dylan Crews out to escape the threat without giving up the lead. Miller threw nothing but sweepers and got Crews to roll one over to Swanson at short to end the inning.
The only other viable threat for the Washington offense on the day was a James Wood home run in the eighth off Miller. Bad news for the Nationals was that nobody was on base and the 421-foot bomb was only able to cut the lead to 3-1, setting up Porter Hodge to come in and nail down the save for the Chicago Cubs for the second straight day. The save earned the Cubs at least a split with the Nationals and they will go for a series win tomorrow when these teams face off again at 1:20 PM CST.
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