Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

Sports

Nationals ace dominates Phillies to set club Opening Day record

WASHINGTON — A chilly day, a spate of shadows and some dominant stuff made MacKenzie Gore unstoppable on Opening Day. 

The Washington Nationals left-hander struck out a career-high 13 – and set a franchise record for Opening Day punchouts – to shut out the Philadelphia Phillies for six innings Thursday. 

Gore had to be that good. Cy Young Award runner-up Zack Wheeler matched him zero for zero at Nationals Park until Keibert Ruiz capped a 12-pitch at-bat by golfing a home run to right field in the fifth inning. 

Gifted that 1-0 lead, Gore finished his afternoon in style, striking out Brandon Marsh to finish the sixth, turning toward center field to pump his fist after his 93rd pitch.

It was a new-fashioned pitching duel: Gore and Wheeler allowed just one base runner between them through four innings, erased on a caught-stealing and double-play, respectively. Yet their determination to avoid bats spiked their pitch counts, even as Gore faced the minimum number of batters in his six innings. 

At one point, he struck out five consecutive Phillies and 10 of 11, topping his previous career high of 11 strikeouts, achieved on two occasions. 

It took just two batters to deprive Gore of the win, as Bryce Harper hit a first-pitch homer off Lucas Sims to tie the game, 1-1. Kyle Schwarber followed with another first-pitch homer, greeting lefty reliever Jose A. Ferrer with a solo homer over the right field wall, giving the Phillies a 2-1 lead.

The Phillies went on to win, 7-3, in 10 innings.

The USA TODAY app gets you to the heart of the news — fastDownload for award-winning coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and more.

This post appeared first on USA TODAY

    You May Also Like

    Politics

    When George Santos mentioned his family during his congressional campaign, the New York Republican often reflected on the work ethic and strength of his...

    Sports

    Kicker Alejandro Mata is following former Tigers coach Deion Sanders to Colorado. ‘Thankful to be committed and signed to the University of Colorado,’ Marta wrote on...

    Stocks

    SPX Monitoring Purposes: Sold long SPX 1/27/23 at 4070.56 = Gain 6.51%; Long on 12/20/22 at 3821.62. The top window is the cumulative GDX...

    Business

    Two of Sam Bankman-Fried’s top business partners — a co-founder of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX and the former CEO of the hedge fund Alameda...

    Disclaimer: SecretCharts.com, its managers, its employees, and assigns (collectively “The Company”) do not make any guarantee or warranty about what is advertised above. Information provided by this website is for research purposes only and should not be considered as personalized financial advice. The Company is not affiliated with, nor does it receive compensation from, any specific security. The Company is not registered or licensed by any governing body in any jurisdiction to give investing advice or provide investment recommendation. Any investments recommended here should be taken into consideration only after consulting with your investment advisor and after reviewing the prospectus or financial statements of the company.

    Copyright © 2024 SecretCharts.com | All Rights Reserved