May 20, 2015

Mr. Walk Off

Ryan Zimmerman hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the tenth Tuesday night as the Nationals beat the Yankees 8-6. The win caused knots in the eastern divisions, Washington moving into a tie with the Mets, while the Yankees drop into a tie with Rays. For Washington, the win erases an eight game deficit.

The walk-off RBI was the 16th of Zimmerman’s career. He came up for a few games in 2005, but including that season in total, he leads in game winners by three. In that time frame, Andre Ethier collected 13, David Ortiz 12, Albert Pujols 12, Aaron Hill 11, and Ryan Howard 11. Given that the Nationals were not a very good team during most of Zimmerman’s run, it’s even more impressive. They just did not have that many opportunities to win. This was only his second walk off RBI since the Nationals got good in 2012.

The Yankees also showed the value of stocking the bullpen with good left-handed pitchers as they were able to silence Bryce Harper late in the game in high leverage situations. The last of those set up the Zimmerman home run, as Andrew Miller allows his first runs of the season.

1 thought on “Mr. Walk Off

  1. Pingback: Ryan Zimmerman; Mr. Walkoff hits his 10th at Nationals Arm Race

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