The hits just keep coming for the Washington Nationals. The team’s nightmare 2015 season has been marred by disappointment, as the team many analysts picked to win the National League pennant currently sits 7.5 games back out of first place in the NL East.
And judging by how Friday night’s game against the Philadelphia Phillies has been going, in addition to the Mets dominating the Reds, it appears the Nationals may find themselves another game back by the end of the night.
Aaron Altherr’s inside-the-park grand slam in the top of the third inning on a fly ball which Michael Taylor misplayed during Friday night’s game is just another embarrassing moment the team would probably like to erase from memory.
With the Nationals leading 1-0, and the bases loaded, Altherr hit a line drive to center field that Taylor aggressively dived for. The ball rolled by him toward the warning track, and Jayson Werth finally picked it up and heaved it toward Ian Desmond, who bobbled the throw.
The result was the first inside-the-park grand slam since 1999.
Taylor probably should have just played the ball on the short hop and let one or two runs score, but he was too aggressive and the Nationals paid for it.
