2017 Signature Moments: #5 — “Four!”
The Nationals are preparing to play in the postseason for the fourth time in six years! The NL East Champs had an exciting and historic 2017 season with lots of wonderful moments. We’re very excited for the postseason, and before the start of the NLDS at Nationals Park, we’re counting down the days with 10 of the most exciting events of the 2017 regular season (in chronological order). Join us as we relive our favorite memories here on Curly W Live!
#5 — “Four!”
Taking the field for the final game of a three-game set against the Milwaukee Brewers, many fans suspected they might be on hand to witness history. Right-hander Max Scherzer, celebrating his 33rd birthday, was slated to start for the Nationals. Two years earlier he’d thrown a one-hit shutout against Milwaukee, and Scherzer’s last getaway day start had been a contest in Miami in which he carried a no-hitter deep into the eighth.
Little did they know that the history that afternoon would be made by the offense.
Scherzer, who was through three hitless frames with six strikeouts on the mound, worked a seven-pitch walk to begin the bottom of the third inning against Milwaukee right-hander Michael Blazek. Outfielder Brian Goodwin then ripped a home run into the third row above the tall wall in right, giving the Nationals an early 4–0 lead. One batter later, Wilmer Difo crushed a hanging breaking ball off the façade of the second deck in deep right-center, sending the kids’ camp day crowd into a frenzy. The Nationals bats weren’t done making noise, either.
Harper, who had given Washington a 2–0 advantage with a home run in the first, sat back on a low pitch and golfed a liner into the red seats in center. With the entire ballpark and dugout still buzzing after the team’s third home run in a row, Zimmerman stepped to the box and wasted no time, obliterating another hanging curve into the visitors’ bullpen in left-center for the Nationals’ fourth consecutive longball.
It was just the eighth time in the history of the game that a team had accomplished the feat and the first since Aug. 11, 2010, when former National Adam LaRoche, Miguel Montero, Mark Reynolds and current National Stephen Drew belted a quartet in succession for the Diamondbacks, also against the Brewers.
Murphy then stepped up to the plate trying to do the unthinkable, but flied out to center for the first out of the inning. Undeterred, Rendon made it a record five blasts in a six-batter span, sending Blazek to the showers with the dubious distinction of being the only pitcher in baseball history to surrender five home runs in a single inning.
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By the end of the fourth inning, the Nationals had pushed a total of 15 runs across the plate, including a second Zimmerman homer, this time a two-run blast, and a two-run shot by catcher Jose Lobaton. The eight fence-clearing drives matched an all-time franchise record, dating back to the inception of the Montreal franchise in 1969.
Here’s to many more homers in the postseason!
The full list of Signature Moments will be in the National League Division Series Magazine, available soon in the Main Team Store and throughout Nationals Park.
