The Washington Nationals battled it out with the Cincinnati Reds on Sunday afternoon. They took a late lead, couldn't hold it, waged war for 14 innings before the Reds knocked out a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 14th to win the game and sweep the Nationals at Great American Ballpark 5-4.
Right fielder Jayson Werth hit a RBI single in the ninth to give the Nationals a 4-3 lead, but reliever Drew Storen could not preserve the lead as he gave up a home run to Yonder Alonso. So began a lengthy back-and-forth battle where neither team could score until the bottom of the 14th where Joey Votto took reliever Collin Balester yard for a walk-off home run. It was Votto's second home run of the game.
Nationals starter Jordan Zimmermann pitched his final game of the 2011 season and it wasn't his most promising performance as he reached his 160 inning limit. Zimmermann went four innings, giving up six hits, three runs, one walk and struck out six. He finishes the year 8-11 with a 3.18 ERA.
Three managers were ejected from the game including Nationals manager Davey Johnson and Reds manager Dusty Baker.
The Nationals are now on a six game losing streak, 62-70 on the year and have fallen to fourth place in the NL East.