It only took the Washington Nationals 11 innings of baseball to score their first run of the 2011 season. They got on the board in the second inning of Saturday's game against the Atlanta Braves thanks to a sacrifice fly from Danny Espinosa. The second-baseman brought Michael Morse home after the left fielder was walked by Tommy Hanson, then advanced to third on a Braves error and a ground-out.
Atlanta didn't take long to answer though. The Braves tied the game on a Chipper Jones single up the middle in the following inning.
The Nationals had their most productive inning of the young season though in the third. Jayson Werth doubled to lead things off and scored on consecutive fly-outs by Adam LaRoche and Morse. On the next play, center-fielder Rick Ankiel hit Washington's first home run of the year. He brought in two runs as Ryan Zimmerman had also reached base by getting hit by a pitch.
The Nationals lead 4-1 heading into the bottom of the fourth inning.