— The players remaining on the Washington Nationals don’t want to be written off just yet.
Ryan Zimmerman hit a two-run home run with two outs in the ninth inning to lift the Nationals over the Philadelphia Phillies 8-7 on Wednesday night.
Juan Soto’s two-out double against Seranthony Dominguez (1-4) set up Zimmerman. His drive landed just above the right-field wall and required video review before umpires confirmed the homer. Zimmerman has 11 walkoff home runs for his career Authentic Connor Brickley Jersey , trailing only Albert Pujols (12) among active players.
“Ninth inning in a close game and the other team has the lead, those (closers) are usually pretty good,” said Zimmerman after his first walk-off homer since May 15, 2016. “I kind of put the pressure on them. They’re supposed to get me out.”
Soto nearly ruined Washington’s fun. Zimmerman remained on second base during the review. After the final call, the excited 19-year-old ran from home toward the infield as Zimmerman neared third base.
“Get away,” Zimmerman said of his thoughts in the moment. “I don’t even know the rules, but get away. That would have been awful.”
Manager Davey Martinez knew the rule.
“If he touches (Ryan), he’s out. I was screaming bloody murder,” Martinez said.
Maikel Franco, Justin Bour and Cesar Hernandez homered for the Phillies, who led 7-5 in the seventh. Philadelphia, which has lost four in a row and nine of 13, fell three games behind NL East-leading Atlanta.
“Big challenge to have a tough week like we’ve had and then to have an excruciating loss like the one we had tonight,” Phillies manager Gabe Kapler said. “Our guys aren’t going to hang our heads. We’re going to come back swinging tomorrow.”
Stephen Strasburg allowed five runs and seven hits over four innings for Washington in his first start since being placed on the 10-day disabled list on July 26 with a cervical nerve impingement.
Bryce Harper had three hits with a run-scoring double and a stolen base for Washington.
Matt Grace (1-1) worked 1/3 of an inning for Washington, which has won two in a row since trading second baseman Daniel Murphy and key reserve Matt Adams on Tuesday. The Nationals are 7 1/2 games behind Atlanta for the NL East lead.
Pinch-hitter Andrew Stevenson’s sacrifice fly in the eighth cut the Phillies lead to 7-6.
Dominguez Luke Schenn Jersey Kids , who has three blown saves in August, threw three sliders to Zimmerman before going fastball on the decisive 2-1 pitch.
“I was throwing sliders, but then when I was behind in the count I was looking for the corners,” Dominquez said via an interpreter. “My plan was yes to make him uncomfortable with the sliders.”
Strasburg made just his second start since June 8. After returning from a DL stint due to shoulder inflammation, the right-hander surrendered six runs and eight hits in 4 2/3 innings in a losing start against Atlanta on July 20 before returning to the disabled list. He has not made it past the fifth inning in three consecutive starts.
Though Strasburg struck out the side in the first inning, he allowed four consecutive two-out hits and three runs in between. Franco turned on a hanging curveball for his 21st homer of the season as the Phillies led 3-0.
“I spent the last two months just fuming over (not being with the team),” Strasburg said. “I was happy to be back out there tonight. Great win for us.”
Philadelphia starter Zach Elfin allowed five runs and 10 hits in 3 1/3 innings.
NEW GUY
Philadelphia acquired left-hander reliever Luis Avilan from the Chicago White Sox before the game in exchange for pitcher Felix Paulino. Avilan had a 3.86 ERA in 39 2/3 innings this season.
SLOWING DOWN
The velocity on Strasburg’s fastballs dipped into the low 90s in his final inning. The pitcher and manager primarily cited lack of endurance after the lengthy absence. “It was a work in progress,” Strasburg said. “It’s obviously been a while. Learned some things from it and take it into the next (start).”
TRAINER’S ROOM
Phillies: Kapler revealed a left wrist injury suffered in Sunday’s loss to the New York Mets kept C Wilson Ramos out of the starting lineup for a second consecutive day. Ramos was available to pinch-hit or enter defensively for an inning if needed.
Nationals: With Strasburg reinstated, Washington optioned infielder Adrian Sanchez to Triple-A Syracuse.
UP NEXT
Phillies: RHP Aaron Nola (14-3, 2.24) is 2-0 with a 1.98 ERA in two starts against Washington this season.
Nationals: RHP Max Scherzer (16-5, 2.11) is 16 strikeouts shy of a fifth consecutive season with at least 250.
As NFL training camps opened this week, complete with interminable speculation about position battles, rookies who might make an impact and what players can or can’t do while ”The Star-Spangled Banner” is playing, let’s remember two players who aren’t suiting up.
Colin Kaepernick and Eric Reid are good enough to be playing for someone.
That much is beyond debate.
But the league has decided to make an example of them, a clear warning to its employees that only so much social activism will be tolerated even while it feigns a sense of respecting their desire to protest during the national anthem.
If the NFL were really concerned about its players Miles Wood Jersey , it wouldn’t be denying these two their well-earned right to make a living.
Rest assured, history won’t be kind when it looks back on the way Kaepernick and Reid were treated by the NFL.
”Both of those guys are NFL talents. Both of them are quality players that can contribute to a roster and contribute to a team winning. They’ve proven it,” New Orleans Saints tight end Benjamin Watson said. ”I do think that 100 percent of the reason why they’re not on a roster is the other stuff that they’re standing for is outweighing the risk a team wants to take to put them on a roster.”
Kaepernick and Reid are following the same path as social warriors who came before them.
Muhammad Ali, who was stripped of his heavyweight boxing title and barred from the ring for more than three years after he refused induction into the military during the Vietnam War.
Tommie Smith and John Carlos, who defiantly stood with their fists in the air on the medal podium at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics to protest the way black people were – and still are – being treated in America.
Ali, Smith and Carlos were vilified at the time.
Now, they’re viewed at heroes – but only after making huge personal, professional and financial sacrifices to stand up for what they believed.
Kaepernick and Reid are making those same sacrifices.
”I do think it’s sad and I want those guys to be on teams because I know they’re good enough to play,” Watson said. ”I hate to see them not be employed in the National Football League, where they should be, simply because they decided to protest and bring attention to systemic oppression, police brutality, injustice – all the things they stated over and over again, which I think are things that we all should be concerned about.”
As of Friday, Kaepernick has gone 572 days since his last snap in the NFL. Tellingly enough Scott Laughton Jersey , he turned in one of his better performances in what might go down as his final game.
On New Year’s Day 2017, playing behind a leaky offensive line that left him running for his life (he was sacked five times), Kaepernick completed 17 of 22 passes for 215 yards and a touchdown in San Francisco’s 25-23 loss to Seattle. His 122.3 rating was the seventh highest of his 69 career games.
But the NFL would have you believe he’s not good enough to play in a league that will employ just under 100 quarterbacks this season, many of them older than Kaepernick (who is still more than three months shy of his 31st birthday, presumably just entering what should be his prime years) and lacking a resume that includes leading his team to the Super Bowl.
Of course, we all know the real reason Kaepernick has effectively been blacklisted from the league – his decision to first sit, then kneel during the national anthem throughout the 2016 season, sparking a debate that carried all the way to the White House.
Reid bravely joined Kaepernick in his stoic, symbolic gesture, and carried on the kneeling when his former teammate was sidelined for the entire 2016 season.
For that, he’s now paying the price.
Despite being beyond qualified for a spot in the NFL – 26 years old, a former first-round pick, a starter in 69 of 70 games over five years with the 49ers, 10 career interceptions, an average of 65 tackles per season Rickard Rakell Jersey , a Pro Bowler in 2013 – Reid has been deemed unworthy of employment by each and every one of the league’s 32 teams.
What makes the treatment of Kaepernick and Reid even more perplexing: The owners and their non-blacklisted players continue to be locked in a back-and-forth squabble over whether protesting during the anthem is a legitimate way to address social injustice in this country.
(Spoiler alert: It is.)
The issue remains a thorn in the league’s side, even after Kaepernick and Reid were cast aside.
”Nothing lasts forever, and this is coming close to lasting way too long,” Cincinnati Bengals owner Mike Brown groaned.
Before there’s any more discussion about sitting or kneeling or staying in the locker room, the players – all of them, black and white – should demand justice for Kaepernick and Reid.
While both have filed collusion grievances, the NFL has lots of highly paid lawyers who will surely try to drag this thing out as long as possible, soaking up prime seasons they’ll never get back.
But all those players who are lucky enough to have a job, some of whom were just as visible and vocal in their calls for social justice, should be pondering what they can do to help get Kaepernick and Reid back on the field.
Maybe a one-day sickout during training camp. Or kneeling en masse before the first game. Perhaps, as a last resort, they should consider an actual strike.
Like Kaepernick and Reid, they need to be willing to make some huge sacrifices.
After all, they could be next.
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