It took sitting through another tense and shaky outing by Jonathan Papelbon in the ninth, but the Nats took advantage of another tremendous performance by Tanner Roark to take the first game of the series, 4-2, to push the Nats’ record to 60-42 on the season.
The Washington Nationals and San Francisco Giants square off this weekend in a four-game battle of first-place clubs at AT&T Park. Not only do these clubs lead their respective divisions, the Nats and Giants entered Thursday’s opener tied with each other for the second-best record in the National League at 59-42., trailing only the Chicago Cubs at 60-40.