Washington, Lannan snap six-game losing streak

By Dave Utnik

Published: July 9, 2008

WASHINGTON – John Lannan nearly threw more balls than strikes on Wednesday night. It wasn’t necessarily the strategy he intended, but the Washington Nationals’ rookie will certainly take the results.
On a night when he admittedly didn’t always have his best command, Lannan still gave the Nationals the type of outing that suggests he will become an all-star some day.
In a 5-0 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks, the National League West’s first-place team, Washington’s 23-year-old lefty did not allow a run. Heck, he barely allowed a hit. The D-Backs managed only two of those and couldn’t take advantage of either as Lannan earned his first win since May 18.
The three walks that Lannan allowed in six innings didn’t really matter, either, because he got the Diamondbacks to hit into three double plays. That, and some clutch hitting from fellow youngsters Kory Casto (26) and Jesus Flores (23), enabled the Nationals to snap a six-game losing streak. 
“Every time I go out there I try to get a victory. It was great to end the losing streak. That’s all I care about,” said Lannan, who threw 43 of his 85 pitches for strikes but improved his season record to 5-9 and lowered his ERA to 3.40.
“I didn’t have anything really,” he said. “I was making some good pitches at times and some pitches could have gone either way but I just went out there and battled without my best stuff.”
The Nationals (35-57) are growing accustomed to battling. They’ve basically had to given all the injuries that have decimated their lineup.
But Wednesday was a joyous day from the start in D.C. as outfielder Elijah Dukes had successful arthroscopic surgery performed on his right knee by Dr. Koko Eaton in Tampa, Fla. and minor league outfielder Leonard Davis, who hit .332 in 63 games with Class A Potomac earlier this season, was promoted to Triple A Columbus following a four-hit performance for Double A Harrisburg.
In between, Lannan, just a year removed from pitching for the P-Nats, out-dueled Micah Owings in front of 25,862 enthusiastic fans and finally had something positive to show for his effort. He used a two-seam fastball to get double-play grounders in the third, fourth and sixth innings as the Diamondbacks never advanced a runner beyond first base.
“It says a lot about him. He threw fifty percent of his pitches for strikes which is very low for a guy like him who relies on his command but he made pitches when he had to,” Nationals manager Manny Acta said. “He got those double plays and he got through it with that sinking fastball.”
While Lannan persevered, Owings (6-8) couldn’t overcome his own bouts of wildness. He surrendered only one hit in his 5 2/3 innings on the mound, but the right-hander hit three batters, walked five – including Casto with the bases loaded to give the Nationals a 1-0 lead — and left the game in the sixth with the D-Backs only trailing by a run.
But the Nationals greeted his replacement, Connor Robertson, with the type of big inning that they’ve sorely needed. The first big hit – a two-out, run-scoring double — came from Casto, who went 2 for 3 with two RBI, a run scored and his first career stolen base.
“He’s going to give you a good at-bat. We have that feeling every time he goes to the plate because he’s one of those guys that’s not afraid to work the count,” Acta said. “We know he’s going to give us a decent at-bat.”
The Nationals are also beginning to expect such things from Flores, who is batting .271 despite a recent 11-for-64 slump. He hadn’t delivered an extra base hit in 19 games until he pinch hit for Lannan in the seventh, but he connected for a three-run blast – the first pinch-hit homer of his career – into the Arizona bullpen to make it a 5-0 game.
“We were able to get a big three-run homer with two outs which is something we’ve been lacking here,” Acta said. “Earl Weaver was right. Those are huge.”