Photo credit: @SFGiants

By Jeremy Harness

Jeff Samardzija was in complete control of his pitches all night last Thursday, and it resulted in the best outing he has had in quite some time.

By the end of the first inning Wednesday night, it was clear that it was not going to be a repeat of that performance. He surrendered three runs in the opening stanza, coming from a pair of homers that were off of mistake pitches out over the plate, which sparked the San Francisco Giants’ 9-6 loss to the Washington Nationals.

Samardzija only lasted five innings and gave up a total of four runs on five hits, walking two and striking out seven, as his record fell to 1-1.

The Giants made their way back in the game in the fourth inning with a pair of runs, but the Nats distanced themselves in the seventh with a pair of homers, a two-run shot to go along with a three-run dinger that gave them a seven-run lead.

The Giants made yet another valiant effort in the ninth, as Gerardo Parra and Steven Duggar, who went 2-for-5 and has been slowly working his batting average up to his current mark of .247, each hit two-run homers. However, they simple ran out of outs, and the series was squared up at a game apiece.

Nats starter Jeremy Hellickson didn’t last much longer than Samardzija, but he did earn the win by surrendering only a pair of runs on five hits while walking four batters, running his mark to 2-0.

The Giants and Nats wrap up their series with a finale Thursday at 10:05 pm PT.