The Washington Nationals had the game in the bag on Thursday night. It was finished. The Chicago Cubs were finished and swept out of Washington the losers of a four game series and four straight games-- but then came the sixth-inning. An incredible rally from Chicago and a complete meltdown in the Nationals lead to a 10-9 Nationals loss in a game that will be remembered for a long time in Natstown.
After the Nationals put up seven runs in the third-inning off Matt Garza (the most runs scored in a single inning by the Nationals this season) it seemed the game was in the bag for Washington. But then Livan Hernandez completely bottomed out in the sixth inning giving up six runs to put the score to 8-6. Reliever Sean Burnett came into the game in the seventh and gave away a two-run homerun to Carlos Pena to tie the game. The Cubs scored again in the eighth to take a 9-8 lead, but the Nationals answered back with a RBI from Michael Morse in the bottom of the inning. The Cubs scored once more in the top of the ninth off reliever Henry Rodriguez to take a 10-9 lead and this time keep it.
There was no magic or walk-offs Thursday for the Nationals as they were able to get a man on third base, but were unable to bring him in. Overall the Nationals win the four game series against the Chicago Cubs 3-1, but they did not get the sweep and Thursday's game will be remembered as the worst blown lead in Expos/Nationals history.
The offense was there for once, but the starting pitching and bullpen let them down.
The Nationals record now stands at 45-44.