The Washington Nationals blew the lead in the ninth inning but Elijah Dukes made sure that they didn’t lose the game as he hit a game winning walk off two run home run in the bottom of the tenth inning. The 10-9 win salvaged a split in the double header against the St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday.
After Jon Rauch gave up two runs in the ninth inning to blow the save, Brian Sanches gave up a home run to Joe Mather and it looked like the Nationals were going to lose for sure. That is when Dukes bailed out his pitching teammates. You always try to pick up your teammates if they have a bad day and that is exactly what Dukes did. Sanches actually ended up getting the win in the game because of that.
I should mention that Nationals starting pitcher Tim Redding was rocked in his 5 2/3 innings of action. He allowed nine hits and six runs.
Dukes led the Nationals with four rbi in the game. Aaron Boone and Kory Casto both had two rbi while Cristian Guzman and Ryan Langerhans had one rbi.
The Nationals should be glad they were atleast able to come away with a split in the double header. They will begin a weekend series with the San Francisco Giants on Friday night.
