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Goulas' Walk Off Double Wins It for Senators in 10th |
July 11, 2008. Vienna, Va. -- Last night's game between the Fairfax Nationals and the Vienna Senators was a story of missed opportunities. For the first eight innings, the Senators were able to penetrate Nationals' pitching for hits, but not runs. They had eight hits through eight innings, but only one run. They had left nine runners on base. It appeared that the Senators were headed for their second loss of the season to the Nationals.
Just as all hope seemed to be slipping away, a bloop single rescued the Senators' hopes. With the Senators trailing 2-1 in the bottom of the ninth, David Harris came to the plate with a runner at third and two outs. Harris fought off several pitches from the Nationals' hard-throwing closer Eric Broberg. Finally, he managed to place a single just beyond the reach of the outgoing shortstop and the incoming left fielder. The tying run scored, and the Senators would never look back. The Senators scored a run in the ninth and a run in the tenth to steal a victory from the Nationals 3-2.
After Harris tied the game by scoring Kevin Hall, who had doubled to start the inning, Senators reliever Kyle Hald pitched a perfect top of the tenth inning. The Senators' bats went immediately back to work in the bottom half of the inning. Nick Kuroczko, patiently worked Nationals reliever Chris Briere for a leadoff walk. Matt Goulas, the current leader in RBIs in the Clark-Griffith League, then stepped to the plate and did what he does best. After two failed bunt attempts, he laced a double off of the wall in center field. Kuroczko sped around the bases, and scored all the way from first to win the game.
“I was just trying to put the ball in play, because I couldn't get the bunt down and I didn't want to hurt my team by striking out,” said Goulas.
For the first four innings, starters Rus Harper and Jordan Durrance matched zeroes. Durrance, who has bounced around this season between the bullpen and the starting rotation for the Senators, turned in arguably his best performance of the season. Coming into this start, Durrance had been a strikeout machine, but also prone to issuing a lot of walks. Durrance reversed this trend, and seemed to pitch more to contact. He finished with four strikeouts and two walks in five innings.
Harper, who also has bounced back and forth this season between the starting rotation and the bullpen, didn't allow a run until the fifth inning. The Senators came out attacking Harper, swinging at a lot of first pitches, but weren't able to bring any runners home.
“He was a good pitcher,” said Goulas. “He would start outside with his changeup, and he would work inside late in the count with his fastball and jam us.”
In the fifth inning, the Senators used some team hitting to manufacture a run. Gunnar Terhune and Harris started the inning with singles. Shortstop Seth Henry then placed a nice sacrifice bunt that advanced the runners. Finally, Martin Parra drove a ball to right field, allowing Terhune to tag and score.
The Nationals answered right back with a run off of Senators reliever Ryan Woolley. Their rally started when Chris Peters chopped a seemingly harmless ball down towards third baseman Martin Parra. It was a difficult play for Parra, who had to charge the ball and throw across his body to first, and Parra sailed the throw beyond the first baseman and into right field. Peters was able to advance all the way to third on the error. He then was brought home by an Alex Guerra sacrifice fly.
The Nationals then took the lead in the seventh with a solo home run by Briere. Briere, who would eventually come to the mound and allow the winning run, began the game in right field.
The Senators brought on Hald to secure the last out in the eighth inning, as well as the ninth and tenth innings. Hald is sometimes a forgotten man in the Senators pitching rotation because his role as the long reliever is not very glamorous. However, Hald has been dominant this season, as he ranks third in the CGL in strikeouts even while pitching significantly less innings than other pitchers.
This was the fourth matchup this season between the Senators and the Nationals, and all have been closely contested. The Nationals were the first team to defeat the Senators this season. The Senators hold the edge though, with a 4-1 record against the Nationals this season.
“There is no doubt that this is the best opponent that we have faced,” said Goulas. “Every time we play them, it's a close game. It's good for us because we need the good competition, and it's a battle every time we face them.”
While last night's come from behind victory was certainly uplifting for the Senators, they know that they need to do a better job with runners in scoring position.
“When we get a runner on third, we have to put the ball in play to get them and over and score the runner,” said Goulas. “That really cost us tonight. We should have won that game before ten innings.”
Andrew Struckmeyer
Vienna Senators