Washington Nationals Tickets served daily from early morning til late-night.
We stock Portland Trailblazers Tickets and packages. See our complete listings of Portland Trailblazers Tickets. Portland Trailblazers event maps and prices.
Washington Nationals
Rush Order Washington Nationals.WASHINGTON -- John Patterson's nickname is The Big Nasty, and he was just that against the Reds on Wednesday night. The right-hander threw 8 1/3 solid innings and helped the Nationals defeat the Reds, 5-3, in front of 32,641 at RFK Stadium.
It was the Nationals' first victory against the Reds this season.
During the game, Patterson (8-4) admitted that he came close to cracking because he was in another close one, but he kept his composure, and gave up three runs on 10 hits, striking out eight and walking one. He wasn't able to relax until the ninth inning.
"I was under some stress there for while, but it was a good game," said Patterson. "Plus, we were able to score late, and it took some pressure off me. After that, I started to be aggressive."
His biggest test came in the seventh inning. The Reds had the bases loaded and no outs, but Patterson managed to get out of the inning. Edwin Encarnacion hit a grounder to first baseman Nick Johnson, who threw to catcher Brian Schneider to get Sean Casey at the plate.
Jacob Cruz, pinch-hitting for starter Ramon Ortiz, struck out, and Felipe Lopez grounded out to end the inning.
"After the bases were loaded, I tried to get tough," said Patterson. "I threw a curveball to [Encarnacion]. Jacob Cruz hasn't seen me. I went soft early and hard late [in the at-bat]. I got the strikeout. If Lopez was going to beat me, he was going to beat me with the fastball. I made two good pitches on the fastball, and I got him to roll over on it. It was the turning point of the game. It was a big spot."
During the second half of the season, Patterson has been performing like the Nationals' No. 1 starter. Asked if he felt like an ace, he said, "I like to compete. One, two, three, four, five, wherever you fit in the rotation, I don't think that would really matter. You should take some pride in your job and do [it to] the best of your ability."
Patterson was also able to get some run support. With Ortiz on the mound in the fifth and the score tied at 1, Jose Guillen hit a solo home run over the left-field fence. It was his second home run at RFK Stadium in as many days and only his third overall in his home ballpark this season.
For most of the season, Guillen was known as the player who complained about the dimensions at RFK, saying that they were too far. Asked if playing there was no longer an issue, now that he is starting to hit home runs, he said, "I don't have an issue with the stadium. It's just that some players get benefits in the stadium that they play. I was just one of the guys that wasn't getting the benefits of this stadium. Everybody wants to play at a stadium where they can put up the numbers.
"This stadium has taken a lot of home runs away from me. I just never tried to make that an excuse. I never did, and I never will. I just play my game the way it is and try to help this team to win."
In the seventh, with reliever Jason Standridge on the mound, the Nationals scored three more runs, with Schneider driving in one with a single to left and Vinny Castilla driving in two more with a double to right-center.
It seems that whenever the right-handed-hitting Castilla goes the other way, good things happen. When he tries to pull the ball all the time, he doesn't have much success.
"You want a hit so bad, you forget to hit the other way," said Castilla. "If it were that easy, no one would go into slumps. I got a pretty good slider to go the other way, and I did that."
In the ninth, Patterson gave up a two-run homer to Javier Valentin and exited in favor of Chad Cordero, who struck out the last two hitters of the game to pick up his 40th save of the season.
Cordero is now the fourth reliever in Nationals/Expos history to record 40 saves in a season. Jeff Reardon (1985), Ugueth Urbina (1999) and John Wetteland (1993) are the others to have reached that milestone.
"I never thought I was going to reach 40 [saves]," said Cordero. "I was able to get that, and it's pretty cool. I wouldn't have been able to do it if we were not winning. We found a way to end a good night for the team. It help us get on the right track."