For the second night in a row, the Nationals pitch a one-hitter against the Reds. Jordan Zimmermann channeled his inning Greg Maddux, throwing just 91 pitches for the shutout, walking one and striking out four. The game just took a few minutes over two hours.
This is the firs time the Reds were held to one hit in consecutive games since July 5-6 1900, according to the Reds broadcast. They did not work counts tonight, putting no pressure on Zimmermann. If Shin-Soo Choo and Joey Votto don’t hit, there’s not much else in the lineup to generate runs.
Ho-hum. Less and less hitting. Baseball heads toward the third deadball era.
Attendance is down, of course. About a three percent drop so far this year. If that holds, baseball will have lost almost seven million in attendance since the pitchers took over after the 2007 season.
But it’s the economy, of course.