Diamondbacks 4 - 5 Nationals
Final/11
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LaRoche's homer lifts Nats over D-backs in 11th

Aug 19, 2014 - 5:07 AM Washington, DC (SportsNetwork.com) - Adam LaRoche hit a two-out walk-off home run in the bottom of the 11th to give the Washington Nationals a 5-4 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks in the first installment of a four-game set.

Anthony Rendon lined out to right to start the frame and Jayson Werth struck out swinging for the second out of the inning. With the count at 3-1, LaRoche sent a curveball by Will Harris (0-3) over the bullpen in right to win the game.

The Nationals won their season-high seventh straight game and their third in a row in walk-off fashion.

"When you're in that situation you have one choice," Nationals manager Matt Williams said. "You can give up or you can fight and these guys fight."

Craig Stammen (3-4) allowed the D-backs to load the bases in the top of the 11th, but retired the next three batters, striking out two of them, to earn the win.

Arizona has lost its last three games and six of eight overall.

"I'm disappointed that we lost of course," said Arizona manager Kirk Gibson. "We had our chances there but the young guys didn't come through. Then LaRoche got hold of a good pitch and that's it."

Mark Trumbo drew a walk to start the away fifth and Miguel Montero followed with a grounder into right for a single. Jordan Pacheco's sacrifice bunt moved the runners over to second and third before Jake Lamb's sacrifice fly plated Trumbo.

Ian Desmond took first on a walk in the home seventh and Wilson Ramos drilled one over the wall in straightaway center field to give the Nationals a 2-1 lead.

Jordan Zimmermann walked Lamb to start the top of the eighth and Didi Gregorius hit a shot into the bullpen beyond right field to get the lead right back for Arizona.

Denard Span doubled to left with one out in the bottom of the eighth, then Rendon hit a line drive down the line in right that rolled into the corner. Span scored and Rendon slid in for a triple. Werth stepped to the plate and lined out to left, but Rendon tagged on the play for the go-ahead run.

David Peralta homered to start the ninth against Tyler Clippard.

With two outs in the top of the 10th, Ender Inciarte hit a line drive into the gap in left-center field to extend his hitting streak to 18 games. Aaron Hill walked and Inciarte stole third on the final pitch of the at-bat to put runners on the corners. Peralta hit a line drive down the right field line that landed just a few inches foul, then grounded out on the next pitch for the third out.

In the top of the 11th, Trumbo hit a ground ball that deflected off of Stammen on the mound and fell harmlessly to the grass for an infield single. Stammen walked the next batter, Montero, on four pitches and Pacheco punched a single into right field to load the bases. Stammen got Lamb and Gregorius to strike out swinging and pinch-hitter Cliff Pennington grounded out to end the inning.

Game Notes

Zimmermann tossed 7-plus innings for the Nationals, allowing three runs on just four hits ... Vidal Nuno started on the mound for the D-backs. He allowed a pair of runs and struck out seven in seven innings ... D-backs reliever Brad Ziegler picked up his eighth blown save of the season for allowing two runs in the bottom of the eighth ... Clippard suffered his fourth blown save of the season ... Washington first baseman Asdrubal Cabrera was kicked in the head while sliding into second in the third inning, but remained in the game ... Washington is 60-7 when scoring four runs or more this season ... Five of the Nationals wins on their current streak have been by just one run, including four in a row.






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