Aaron Altherr crushes Nationals with inside-the-park grand slam
The Washington Nationals have crashed and burned during the second half of the season. There’s no other way to describe a first-place team and preseason World Series favorite falling to the verge of elimination before baseball’s final week. The only thing that’s been missing is a metaphorical play that can be included in all postseason video packages.
That changed on Friday.
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In an 8-2 loss to the last-place Philadelphia Phillies, center fielder Michael Taylor did his own version of the crash and burn, playing an Aaron Altherr basehit into a game-changing, inside-the-park grand slam that will effectively crush the Nationals faint postseason hopes.
The unfortunate play happened in the third inning. With one out, Altherr hit a sinking line drive to short center field that Taylor obviously thought he had a chance to catch. He was mistaken, and that mistake proved very costly as the ball skipped past him and rolled nearly to the warning track. That allowed all three baserunners, as well as Altherr, who raced around with MLB’s first inside-the-park grand slam since 1999.
According to FOX Sports on Twitter, the last one belonged to Randy Winn then of the New York Yankees.
Two innings later, Altherr would continue his big night with a solo home run. That time, he went back-to-back with Darren Ruf.
Needless to say, this wasn’t a memorable night for Jordan Zimmermann. The impending free agent was making what could prove to be his final home start for the Nationals, but could last only five innings, allowing the six runs already noted of those three home runs.
It was the type of game that has killed the Nationals all season. On paper, it looked like a mismatch in their favor. They just didn’t play anything resembling good enough baseball to win, and now they enter play on Saturday knowing one more loss or one more Mets win spells the end of their postseason chances.
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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Townie813
