Written by Chelsea Janes at Washington Post.com
The first hit the Washington Nationals recorded in Wednesday night’s 11-4 win over the White Sox came against James Shields, the starter Chicago acquired last week. It was a weak roller up the third base line, sent there intentionally by Bryce Harper when the shifted infield left no one nearby.
The second hit blooped softly into right field, sent there by Daniel Murphy, who golfed a two-strike pitch. He drove in a run, thereby ending any hopes Shields might have had for his first South Side shutout.
The next three Nationals hits were home runs, from Ryan Zimmerman, Stephen Drew and Danny Espinosa, thereby reducing Shields’s debut to debacle. They knocked the right-hander from the game after two-plus innings and gave a six-run lead to Max Scherzer, who has never lost as a National when given such support.
Shields was not alone in his inability to quiet the Nationals’ suddenly relentless attack. They scored at least 10 runs for the third straight game, marking the second time in Nationals history they have compiled such a streak. After those hits by Harper and Murphy, the Nationals knocked 16 more, for a season-high 18. They upped their NL-leading home run total to 81 in 59 games and moved a season-high 13 games over .500 at 36-23.
“You just got to keep it going and not worry about what we did yesterday — just memorize it and try to figure out how to do that on a daily basis,” Nationals Manager Dusty Baker said. “You know you’re not going to score that many runs every day, but you got to take ’em when you can get ’em.”
The Nationals’ six-run onslaught in the first two innings pushed Shields to 84 pitches by the time he departed and left Scherzer in the tunnel near the clubhouse, tossing a ball against the wall to keep his right arm warm. Staked to a four-run lead before he took the mound and a six-run lead after two, Scherzer threw three perfect innings. Adam Eaton led off the fourth with a double to end the bid, which had seemed a possibility the way Scherzer was throwing.
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