Washington 4, Toronto 2
When: 7:07 PM ET, Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Where: Rogers Centre, Toronto, Ontario
Temperature:
77°
Umpires:
Home -
Adrian Johnson, 1B -
Gary Cederstrom, 2B -
Lance Barksdale, 3B -
Fieldin Culbreth
Attendance:
22538
By SportsDirect Inc.
Nationals 4, Blue Jays 2: Bryce Harper had one of three Washington home runs and Chien-Ming Wang shook off his Rogers Centre struggles as the Nationals beat Toronto for their fifth straight win.
Harper's tape-measure home run brought oohs and aahs from the Toronto crowd as the teen phenom victimized Blue Jays pitching en route to his second consecutive three-hit game. Harper is now hitting .382 (29-for-76) with five home runs and 15 RBIs in his last 19 games.
Wang (2-2), who came into the night with a 12.46 ERA in two career starts in Toronto, limited the struggling Blue Jays to two runs on four hits while overcoming five walks in five innings. Three relievers held Toronto to one hit over the sixth, seventh and eighth innings while Tyler Clippard recorded the final three outs for his ninth save.
A night after registering three hits in a 6-3 victory, Harper made a loud statement in his second at-bat against Toronto starter Henderson Alvarez (3-6). The 19-year-old crushed a first-pitch fastball off a BlackBerry banner hanging over the right-center field wall for his seventh home run of the campaign.
Danny Espinosa padded the lead in the fourth inning, drilling another first-pitch offering from Alvarez over the center-field fence for his sixth homer of the season.
Toronto countered in the fifth inning, as Jose Bautista took Wang deep to left field for a two-run homer, his team-leading 18th of the season and sixth in the last 10 games.
Jhonatan Solano gave the Nationals some breathing room in the seventh, swatting a solo shot to left field for his first career home run.
Alvarez was charged with four runs on nine hits over seven innings as Toronto fell for the fifth time in six games. He struck out three and didn't walk a batter.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Alvarez is 0-4 in his last six starts dating back to May 10. ... Nationals 1B/LF Michael Morse went 1-for-4, raising his average to .200, but is still looking for his first home run of 2012. Morse, who hit 31 homers a season ago, has been limited to 10 games after missing the first 50 with a lat injury. ... Blue Jays 3B Brett Lawrie was caught stealing for the sixth time this season, tops in the American League.
Top Game Performances
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Hits |
HR |
TB |
Avg |
LOB |
K |
RBI |
BB |
SB |
Errors |
| Washington
|
10 |
3 |
21 |
.294 |
12 |
6 |
4 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
| Toronto
|
5 |
1 |
9 |
.161 |
9 |
8 |
2 |
5 |
1 |
0 |
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