Game Wrap 8/12/2017: Nationals 3 Giants 1

The Giants had to wait until 10:00 PM local time to start a series that was supposed to to start 27 hours earlier due to awful weather in Washington DC.  It had still not completely stopped raining when the grounds crew got the swamp drained enough to get started.  The Giants scored first on Joe Panik's HR, the Nationals scored 2 in the bottom of the first to take the lead, and Bryce Harper suffered a nasty looking knee injury when he slipped on a wet first base bag while trying to win a foot race with Ryder Jones to the base.  After that, this one was a real snoozer as Edwin Jackson worked his usual hex on the Giants lineup to waste QS from Jeff Samardzija.  Key Lines:

Joe Panik 2B- 1 for 4, HR(7).  BA= .264.  Panik, the second batter in the lineup, got a fastball up and over the plate in the first inning.  He turned on it and drove it several rows into the RF stands for his 7'th roundtripper.  All of the Giants 8 position players in the lineup reached base and 7 had hits, but they were scattered so Panik's dinger ended up as the only run they scored.

Jeff Samardzija RHP- 6 IP, 9 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 6 H.  ERA= 4.74.  Pretty much a microcosm of Shark's season here.  Hittable early to fall behind, strong K and BB numbers, poor run support and another L on the pitching line.

Mark Melancon RHP- 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K. ERA= 4.15.  Giants stated plan is to ease Melancon back into the closing role.   He got a scoreless inning under his belt here.

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Weather permitting, the Giants close out the 3-game series with a day-night DH with Chris Stratton facing AJ Cole in the afternoon game with Matt Moore taking on Max Scherzer in the nightcap.