Friday, April 25, 2014

Game of the Day (4/24/14)

Padres 4, Nationals 3 (12). If you were expecting something more like A's 10, Astros 1, you haven't figured out how this works yet.

Washington's Jordan Zimmermann allowed a leadoff single to Everth Cabrera in the first, but a double play took care of him. Denard Span and Adam LaRoche both picked up hits against Eric Stults in the bottom of the inning, but Ian Desmond struck out to leave runners at the corners. Both starters were perfect in the second, and Zimmermann duplicated that feat in the third as well.

The Nats opened the scoring in the bottom of the third, starting with a leadoff hit by Zimmermann. Span hit into a force at second, but then advanced to third on a steal and a Stults error and scored on a sacrifice fly by Anthony Rendon. San Diego promptly tied the game in the top of the fourth when Chris Denorfia singled and Seth Smith doubled him around. Washington got singles from Bryce Harper and Danny Espinosa in the fourth, but left them on first and second. After a perfect fifth from Zimmermann, Span led off the fifth with a single and Jayson Werth singled him to third with one out, but LaRoche struck out and Ian Desmond lined out to miss another chance.

The Padres took their first lead in the top of the sixth, starting with a double by Stults. Cabrera lined out on a bunt attempt, and Denorfia grounded out to advance his pitcher to third; Smith walked, and Yasmani Grandal doubled both runners home to make it a 3-1 game. Washington halved the deficit in the bottom of the inning when Espinosa homered, and got the tying run to second on singles by Jose Lobaton and Span (the latter coming against Dale Thayer, who relieved Stults mid-inning) before Rendon grounded out to leave it there. After Jerry Blevins worked around a walk in the top of the seventh, LaRoche went deep against Nick Vincent in the bottom of the inning to knot the game at 3.

Tyler Clippard allowed a Denorfia single and a Smith walk in the top of the eighth before stranding both runners. Espinosa singled and took second on a Joaquin Benoit wild pitch before stopping there in the bottom of the inning. Yonder Alonso walked and was caught stealing against Rafael Soriano in the ninth. Tim Stauffer took the mound for the Padres and allowed a one-out Jayson Werth single, then walked Desmond with two away. That brought Harper to the plate, and with Espinosa on deck, Harper was intentionally walked to force the lead runner to third. I do not understand this decision in the slightest - once you force the bases loaded, a walk, HBP, wild pitch, or passed ball all lose you the game along with a hit. But it worked (Espinosa popped up), and that's why this sort of decision keeps getting made.

Craig Stammen came in for the tenth and retired the Padres in order, while Stauffer allowed a leadoff double to Lobaton but kept him at second. Stammen was perfect again in the eleventh, and one of the outs was Smith, who injured his leg while running out a grounder. San Diego wanted to keep Stauffer on the mound for one more batter (Werth lined out) before double-switching, but couldn't put Smith back in the outfield, so starting pitcher Andrew Cashner made his big league outfielding debut. Alex Torres and Tommy Medica took the mound and left field, respectively, after that first out, and Torres retired the next two hitters.

Stammen was still pitching in the top of the twelfth, and the Padres finally got to him, starting with a one-out Jedd Gyorko single. After Medica struck out, Gyorko moved around to third on a steal-and-error (the error courtesy of Lobaton), then scored the go-ahead run on a Xavier Nady single. Huston Street entered for the save chance and gave up a leadoff double to Harper, but Lobaton would line into a one-out double play to end the game.

Jose Lobaton certainly had an eventful day. It had a number of high points; he threw out Yonder Alonso trying to steal in the ninth, he singled as the tying run in the sixth and hit a leadoff double in the tenth to put the winning run in scoring position. But the low points were more significant: a lineout in the fourth with two on and one out in a tie game, a strikeout in the eighth with the go-ahead run at second and nobody out, a throwing error on a steal in the twelfth to put the go-ahead run at third, and the game-ending double play line drive in the twelfth. Not counting the fielding plays, Lobaton's hitting alone added .639 WPL to the game (with the positive plays worth +.220 WPA and the negatives clocking in at -.419), easily the largest total of any hitter on either team and nearly 10% of the game's overall total of 6.53 (fifth-highest so far this year).

The takeaway appears to be that it is generally not optimal for the decisive player in the game to be your backup catcher... which is not necessarily a shocking discovery.

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