The Chicago Cubs hosted the Washington Nationals on Tuesday night in what was a pitcher's duel between Kyle Hendricks and Jordan Zimmermann. That all changed once the eighth inning rolled around.
Nationals' outfielder Denard Span broke a 1-1 tie in the top of the eighth with a solo shot off of Cubs' setup man Pedro Strop. After Strop got shortstop Ian Desmond to line out to right field to end the inning, Nats' manager Matt Williams called on Aaron Barrett to face the heart of the Cubs' order.
Kris Bryant led off the bottom of the eighth and got the crowd back into it with a game-tying 477-foot blast to left-center. Check it out below.
It was Bryant's seventh home run of the season and he's now batting .281/.396/.489 with 26 runs scored and 31 RBIs in 37 games since being called up in mid-April. Williams took Barrett out of the game after Bryant's homer and sent in left-hander Matt Thornton, who retired Anthony Rizzo, Starlin Castro and Miguel Montero to end the inning.
Cubs' manager Joe Maddon summoned closer Hector Rondon to face the heart of the Nats' order. After giving up a leadoff single to Yunel Escobar, Rondon got Bryce Harper to line out to center and then struck out Ryan Zimmerman before throwing out Escobar at third base on a steal attempt.
Matt Grace came on in the bottom of the ninth for Washington and he was tasked with facing Jorge Soler, Chris Coghlan and Jonathan Herrera. After Soler flied out to center, Coghlan ripped a single to center field to give the Cubs hope. Herrera then grounded into a fielder's choice, but Desmond made a throwing error on a double-play attempt and Herrera advanced to second base to keep the inning alive.
Next up was Addison Russell, who delivered the heroics, as you can see below:
Russell was 3-for-4 on the night with the game-winning RBI and increased his stat line to .252/.301/.426 since being called up at the end of April. The Cubs improved to 25-20 with the 3-2 win and the future continues to look brighter for the young squad as the season progresses.
