Nats, Cards engage in pitchers' duel

March 4th, 2017

JUPITER, Fla. -- Cardinals infielder hit a game-tying home run in the ninth inning off Nats left-hander as the Cardinals and Nationals played to a 1-1 tie at Roger Dean Stadium on Saturday.
Lee threw one more pitch then had to leave the game with an apparent arm injury. He is scheduled for an MRI on Sunday. The Nationals manufactured an early unearned run off Cardinals starter right-hander .
Nationals lefty pitched three scoreless innings in his second spring start while allowing one hit and one walk. He erased both baserunners by inducing double plays. Gonzalez breezed through the outing on 29 pitches, 18 of which were strikes.
"Big takeaway for me is breaking balls, lining them for strikes," Gonzalez said. "Lefty-to-lefty, good breaking ball. That was a good thing to see."
Lynn worked a bit harder in his second Grapefruit League start. He stranded a runner at third in the second inning but helped the Nationals to a run with an errant pickoff throw an inning later. , who had opened the inning with a single, advanced to third on the error. 's groundout to short drove him in.

Lynn did become the first Cardinals starter to finish four innings in a game this spring. He threw 52 pitches, 36 strikes, in the effort.
"As long as they're not barreling it, we're fine," Lynn said. "[I got] a lot of grounders and weak fly balls, so I did what I wanted to do."
and Matt Albers sailed through their relief appearances for the Nationals.
Nationals Up Next: will make his second Grapefruit League start Sunday afternoon against the Twins at 1:05 p.m. ET at the Ballpark of the Palm Beaches. This will be his final outing before he leaves Monday to join Team USA for the World Baseball Classic. He is scheduled to pitch in their game on March 11 against the Dominican Republic.
Cardinals Up Next: The Cardinals will travel to Port St. Lucie, Fla., on Sunday to meet the Mets in a 12:10 p.m. CT game on Sunday. Mike Leake, who faced the minimum in a three-inning spring debut last Tuesday, will make the start against Matt Harvey. will catch Leake before departing to join the Puerto Rican World Baseball Classic team. , and are scheduled to pitch in relief. The game can be seen on MLB.TV.
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