Pena and Pitching Staff Shine in Victory

WOODBRIDGE, VA - Richelson Peña was magnificent in his ninth start of the season, twirling seven shutout innings in a 1-0 Wood Ducks victory over the Nationals. The win snaps a seven-game losing streak for the Wood Ducks.

The Woodies had just enough offense off the P-Nats pitching and starter Grant Borne. In fact, the only run nearly never happened with an 0-2 count and two outs on Matt Lipka.
In the third inning, Arturo Lara led off with a single and advanced to third on two groundouts. Lipka clocked the offer from Borne down the left field line to score Lara and plate what would be the only run of the game.
Pena labored through the first four batters of the game, needing 21 pitches to retire the side in the first. He only needed 73 more for the next six innings. He struck out the side in the sixth and only had one walk in the game. Furthermore, the Nationals only had multiple runners on base once (the second inning) all night.
Jose Valdespina worked a perfect eighth with two strikeouts against the top of the order. For the first time since the last win, the Wood Ducks used Ricardo Rodríguez in the final inning for the save.
Rodriguez only needed ten pitches with nine strikes for a 1-2-3 ninth inning. The save also completed a "hidden perfect game" from Rodriguez, as he has retired 27 consecutive batters over his last seven appearances with 12 strikeouts.
Game three of the series is on Saturday at 6:35 p.m. RHP Johnathan Hernandez will be countered by LHP Hector Silvestre. You can listen to every pitch of the 2017 season live on Sports/Talk 960 The Bull or streamed on the TuneIn Radio app.