Diamondbacks 5, Nationals 1: Your Boss Says, "Like a Cahill"

Trevor Cahill looked sharp against the Harp and Paul Goldschmidt broke out from his drought. It was an entertaining game to watch all around with solid pitching, defense, and a first-look at a guy we'll all probably be talking about for the next decade.

All of the hype going into this game had nothing to do with the D-backs or the fact that the Nationals have been struggling offensively, or that Ryan Zimmerman and Michael Morse were still out of the lineup, or even the fact that Stephen Strasburg still exists. Every bit of attention was focused on the Washington debut of Bryce Harper and for good reason. That guy is probably going to hit, like, 1,367 home runs in his career.

After a six-hour pregame press conference with everyone, even the players, asking Bryce Harper if he was going to be the next Bryce Harper since Bryce Harper, the game finally began with a pretty good pitcher's duel taking place. Jordan Zimmerman had quietly shutdown the D-backs offense through the first four innings, allowing just a pair of hits to Jason Kubel and Paul Goldschmidt. Meanwhile, Trevor Cahill went toe-to-toe with Zimmerman matching his dominance by allowing a pair of singles through the same time frame.

The Diamondbacks would then go on to score runs in the next three innings, striking first in the top of the 5th inning as Paul Goldschimdt lead off with another single and advanced on a throwing error. After Cody Ransom struck out, Mack Daddy singled him home to score the first run of the game. MacDonald has already doubled his RBI output from last year with the D-backs from two to four!

After Miguel Montero doubled home Justin Upton in the 6th, Aaron Hill helped pad the lead in the 7th inning by taking a pitch in the back with the bases loaded to bring the score to 3-0. Justin Upton then followed suit with a sacrifice fly and the D-backs would eventually take this 4-0 lead into the 8th inning. Worth noting that on Upton's sacrifice fly, that Bryce Harper guy threw an amazing dart from the outfield to nail John MacDonald at home. Thankfully for us, Jeff Nelson was the home plate umpire and missed a pretty apparent out at home.

With the Nationals only able to collect four hits through the first seven innings, the D-backs decided not to pinch hit for Cahill in the previous inning and let him continue the game into the 8th. The Nats finally found their way on the board on back-to-back hits from Roger Bernadina and Ian Desmond. It snapped a 17-inning scoreless streak for Washington. Exit Cahill with an impressive line of 7 1/3 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, and 5 Ks. Bryan Shaw cleaned up the rest of the inning, picking up his fourth hold of the year.

Justin Upton added another run in 9th thanks to a sure-thing double, plating Gerardo Parra, but was thrown at second base reminiscent of that "lazy" Upton we remember from 2009/10. David Hernandez came in to wrap things up in the bottom of the inning and went 1-2-3 through the heart of the order against Adam LaRoche, Jayson Werth, and Danny Espinosa, preventing all of us from seeing another glimpse of the amazing Bryce Harper who had gone 0-3.

Tune in tomorrow at 4:05 PM MST to see MLB's best pitcher Joe Saunders (2-1, 0.90 ERA) square off against a guy who once pitched a no-hitter for the D-backs, Edwin Jackson (1-1, 3.16 ERA). There will also be Bryce Harper and popcorn.