The Washington Nationals dropped the finale of their series with the Houston Astros on Thursday night, 11-4. The Nats did not get a good performance from their starting pitching -- a rare occurrence so far this season. Edwin Jackson gave up five runs in a rough first inning that immediately put Washington in a hole. The inning featured three Houston triples, a franchise record.
Davey Johnson's club would battle back, however, and cut the Houston lead to just one. The Nationals rally back featured a three-run shot by Ryan Zimmerman, his first of the year. But Tom Gorzelanny came on and was shelled in two innings of work. Gorzelanny have up a whopping eight hits in just two innings of work, as the 'Stros blew it open with six earned runs against the overmatched reliever. That would close the book on Washington's chances, as Houston's bullpen gave up only one hit over the final three innings for the 11-4 win.
The Nats' homestand continues on Friday, with NL East foe Miami coming to town. The combustible Carlos Zambrano will start for Ozzie Guillen, and Washington will counter with Ross Detwiler.
For more on this series check out the SBNation Nationals blog Federal Baseball. For more information on the team in the other clubhouse, check out the Astros blog The Crawfish Boxes. For more news and notes from around Major League Baseball, check out the MLB Hub on SBNation.com.