Dodgers shut out by Nationals, drop another series at home in Landon Knack’s first start
LA TimesNationals pitcher Jake Irvin beats the Dodgers’ Teoscar Hernández to first base on a ground out in the fourth inning. Clearly, our guys weren’t seeing the ball well.” The Nationals backed Irvin with three superb plays, second baseman Luis Garcia Jr. diving to his left to stop Freddie Freeman’s third-inning grounder and to his right to snag Gavin Lux’s fifth-inning grounder and first baseman Joey Meneses gloving Freeman’s 100-mph shot at the bag and throwing to second to complete a double play in the sixth. “I definitely had a little bit of nerves going.” Knack’s second welcome-to-the-big-leagues moment came on his second pitch of his big-league career, a center-but 93-mph fastball that leadoff man CJ Abrams cranked 392 feet into the right-center field seats for a home run and a 1-0 Nationals lead. It was kind of slowing things down within myself, making sure to breathe, and after that, everything came out a lot smoother.” Knack was the third Dodgers player to make his major league debut in this series, joining reliever Ricky Vanasco, who threw two perfect innings of relief on Monday night, and outfielder Andy Pages, who singled in his first plate appearance on Tuesday night. The Dodgers weathered a slew of rotation injuries to win 100 games last season, leaning heavily on youngsters such as Bobby Miller, Emmet Sheehan and Michael Grove — who threw three hitless innings with four strikeouts on Wednesday — and top pitching prospect Gavin Stone earned a spot in this year’s opening-day rotation.