San Francisco Giants overpower Nationals with whopping third inning

Aug 15, 2015; San Francisco, CA, USA; San Francisco Giants second baseman Kelby Tomlinson (37) hits a triple against the Washington Nationals during the third inning at AT&T Park. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

For the third straight game the Nationals have opened up the first inning by scoring a run. And for the third straight game the Giants were not impressed.

But I started to sweat a little when the Nationals lead-off hitter in the second opened up with a huge home run that almost made it to the Giant mitt. Or maybe I was sweating because it was 100˚ here and my air conditioner is broken.

For the first two innings the Nationals pitcher and former Oakland A, Gio Gonzalez, went through the Giants lineup like a hot knife through butter. Three up, three down. Both innings.

When they got to the third inning, the Giants put an end to Gonzalez’ reign of terror.

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And it all started with our newest rookie, Kelby Tomlinson, who hit a triple to lead-off the third inning. Hector Sanchez followed with a walk, and Jake Peavy taxed his counterpart’s arm, fighting off pitch after pitch until he stacked up enough pitches out of the zone to collect his freebie.

That brought our lead-off man to the plate for his second at bat of the game. The bases were loaded. So he cleared them with a double to center field. Matt Duffy came up with a double, scoring Blanco and Brandon Belt hit a single, plating Duffy. Belt scored on Brandon Crawford’s line drive base hit.

After cycling through the entire Giants lineup, the Nationals changed pitchers and ended the inning right where it started‒with Kelby.

The fourth inning was quiet for both benches, but the Giants made more noise in the fifth.

Belt walked and scored on Buster’s double. The Nationals pitcher intentionally walked Crawford to pitch to Kelby, and Kelby punished him for the slight by firing a double down the left field line, easily scoring Buster and Crawford. The Giants scored another run in the sixth when Gregor singled and Belt doubled him home.

Peavy’s night ended in the sixth after the Nationals added three more runs to their tally. Peavy earned the win with five and ⅔ innings pitched, allowing five runs (all earned, one home run), nine hits and three walks while striking out two.

The Giants tacked on 2 more runs in the eighth: Blanco singled, scoring on Duffy’s double, who scored on Buster’s base hit. That kind of sounds like the old nursery rhyme The House That Jack Built, doesn’t it? This is the single that scored on the double, that…

Sorry. It’s late and I’m punchy. The Nationals added on another home run in the ninth. The final score was: Giants 12, Nationals 6

Who’s sweating now? I don’t know about you, but I’d put my money on the Nationals, who have to face off against the Giants in the series finale tomorrow.

Now you know me. I’m never going to say the S-word, you know the one I’m talking about–the one that rhymes with weep? Because if I say the word out loud, or start showing pictures of brooms, it’ll bring down the wrath of the baseball gods‒they’ll cut off the s and leave us with nothing but the weep.

Don’t tempt fate. Just wish our boys good luck for Sunday.

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