On Wednesday night the Washington Nationals bullpen was the team's Achilles heel. On Thursday it was the opposite. Reliever Drew Storen came into the ninth-inning with a the Nationals holding a one run lead and slammed the door on the Mets earning his fourth save of the season in the Nationals 4-3 victory.
Amid controversy over a federal probe, Nats starter Livan Hernandez seemed unphased and went eight innings giving up seven hits, three runs, two earned, striking out five and earning his third win of the season. He left the rest up to young, Storen who performed admirably. He only gave up one single to Josh Thole, but got Jason Bay to fly out, Ike Davis to ground out and former National Willie Harris to strike out swinging to end the game.
Lead-off hitter Danny Espinosa, centerfielder Rick Ankiel and Ian Desmond all had 2-for-4 nights. Desmond, fresh off MLB's paternity list, had a triple and a home run in the game.
The Nationals put an end to their four game losing streak and the Mets six game winning streak. With Thursday's win the Nationals move back into fourth place in the NL East with a 11-13 record.