Washington Nationals vs San Francisco Giants Match Player Stats On May 30, 2017

The Sports Xchange
May 31, 2017

SAN FRANCISCO -- Left-hander Gio Gonzalez pitched into the seventh inning and aided his own cause with an RBI single Tuesday night, helping the Washington Nationals outlast the San Francisco Giants 6-3.

The incident-free game began hours after the National League announced that Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper and Giants reliever Hunter Strickland were suspended four and six games, respectively, for their roles in a fight late in Washington's 3-0 victory Monday.

Both players appealed their suspensions and remained eligible to play Tuesday. Harper went 0-for-5 with three strikeouts, while Strickland saw no action.

Gonzalez (4-1), handed a 2-0 lead before even taking the mound, worked around eight hits and three walks to limit the Giants to three runs in 6 1/3 innings. He struck out six while winning for the first time since April 27.

Gonzalez, a .158 hitter entering the game, delivered a run-scoring single in the second inning that increased the Washington lead to 3-0. The hit plated Michael Taylor, who had singled and taken second on Giants catcher Buster Posey's throwing error.

Trea Turner and Daniel Murphy had three hits apiece for the Nationals, who outhit the Giants 14-9.

Turner's first hit, a single, led off the Nationals' two-run first inning against Giants starter Jeff Samardzija (1-7). He scored on a two-out double by Ryan Zimmerman, who in turn came around to make it 2-0 on a single by Murphy.

Taylor and Jayson Werth had two hits apiece for the Nationals, who won for the seventh time in their last nine games.

Right-hander Matt Albers followed up Gonzalez with 1 2/3 innings of one-hit, scoreless relief. Closer Koda Glover recorded his second save in two nights, his seventh of the season, with a 1-2-3 ninth.

Posey had three hits and an RBI for the Giants, who lost despite an impressive outing by outfielder Orlando Calixte in his debut with the club.

Calixte, promoted from Triple-A Sacramento earlier in the day, recorded his first major league hit to lead off the bottom of the first inning.

He then drove in two of the Giants' three runs with a double in the second, and he wound up playing all three outfield positions over the course of the nine innings, becoming the first Giant to do so since Randy Winn in 2009.

Samardzija allowed the first three Nationals runs before leaving with a distinction after throwing 100 pitches in four innings.

The second-year Giant became only the fourth pitcher since 1913 to record no walks when throwing 100 or more pitches in four or fewer innings. Only Bryan Rekar (2001), Luke Hochevar (2009) and Rick Porcello (2012) had done it previously.

Samardzija allowed nine hits and struck out five.

The Nationals led just 3-2 before Giants reliever Bryan Morris allowed four consecutive hits and committed a costly error in a three-run fifth inning. Taylor had the big hit of the inning, a two-run single.

NOTES: Nationals manager Dusty Baker wasn't happy with RF Bryce Harper's suspension, insisting before the game, "I just don't think that the judges, whoever the judges were, have ever been in the situation. Probably only Martin Luther King (Jr.) or Gandhi would have turned the other cheek and not done something reactionary." ... Having seen the incident on television while attending school at nearby Stanford, swimming star Katie Ledecky tweeted a note to her friend Harper, offering, "If you end up suspended, come on down to Palo Alto and hang out at the pool for a day." ... The Giants announced Tuesday that 1B Michael Morse sustained a concussion when he collided with teammate RHP Jeff Samardzija during the Monday fight. He was placed on the seven-day concussion disabled list. ... The Giants promoted two players from Triple-A Sacramento: LF Orlando Calixte, who took Morse's spot on the active roster, and INF/OF Kelby Tomlinson, who replaced OF Mac Williamson, who was demoted to Sacramento.