Nats, Yanks knotted in the sixth (Nationals lose 8-5)

VIERA, Fla. - As I check NCAA Tournament scores in between pitches ... We're tied 2-2 here in the sixth inning at Space Coast Stadium. And while the action on the field the rest of the way will be monitored, the main story that will come out of today will be the injury to Chien-Ming Wang, who left the game in the third inning because of a left hamstring strain. We'll have to see what reports manager Davey Johnson gets from the training staff about the righty's status and hope that it's not considered anything serious. The Yankees got both of their runs after Wang left the game with two outs in the third inning. Steve Lombardozzi, playing shortstop today, allowed the inning to continue by lollygagging a throw over to first, and Yankees right fielder Chris Dickerson beat out the grounder for an infield single. One batter later, Bill Hall crushed a double to right, scoring Dickerson and Andruw Jones, who had walked, giving the Yanks a 2-0 lead. The Nationals tied the score, getting one run in the third on a Jhonatan Solano RBI double and then another run in the fourth on an Adam LaRoche RBI double. LaRoche was tagged out easily when he made a big turn around second, possibly to force the throw to the plate to be cut off. John Lannan is in the game now for the Nats, and he's looked good through two innings of work, facing the minimum. Lannan has struck out two, including Brett Gardner to start the fifth inning, marking Gardner's third K of the game. Ryan Zimmerman was given the rare spring training intentional walk in the bottom of the fifth with runners at second and third and two out. With sidearming lefty Clay Rapada on the mound, manager Joe Girardi decided to play the matchups, even though, you know, these games don't matter. The move worked out, as Chad Tracy grounded out to second to end the inning. Girardi also came out to argue that Wang didn't touch first base when he went down awkwardly in the third inning. The Yankees skipper is in mid-season form, alright. Update: The Nats jumped on top in the bottom of the sixth when Adam LaRoche walked to start the frame, moved to third on Jayson Werth's double off the right-field wall, and then scored on a sacrifice fly by Steve Lombardozzi. 3-2 Nationals here entering the seventh. Update No. 2: The Yankees answered right back in the seventh, getting five singles to start the inning and scoring four runs off Lannan. None of the singles were struck all that well (one was a bunt basehit), and Lannan did bounce back nicely after a visit from pitching coach Steve McCatty, retiring the last three he faced to get out of the jam. Update No. 3: The Nationals lost to the Yankees 8-5.



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