The Washington Nationals didn't have many bad things to say about Jordan Zimmermann in his first major-league loss, a night they felt had as much to do with Albert Pujols as anything the rookie did.
The right-hander gave up five runs on eight hits in 5 2/3 innings, but most of the damage came from Pujols and the rest of the Cardinals' big bats. The reigning NL MVP was 3-for-4 with a home run, getting all of his hits off Zimmermann and winding up a triple short of the cycle. Pujols, Chris Duncan and Ryan Ludwick combined to go 6-for-9 off Zimmermann with three homers and five RBIs. Zimmermann still threw 71 of his 101 pitches for strikes, and the side effect of that kind of ratio is that he's going to get hit every once in a while. The homer Pujols hit was on the fifth straight fastball Zimmermann threw him, trying to throw inside after four outside fastballs had produced a 3-1 count.
"Let's say on the Pujols one, 3-1 (count), we pretty much wanted him to walk, basically," manager Manny Acta said. "The ball went out over the plate. He's got such good control that, at times, when we want him to go out of the zone when he's ahead. He's a bulldog. He'll go right after guys, and we like that. I don't think that, every time (Zimmermann) makes a mistake, with his kind of stuff, it's going to go out of the ballpark from (now) on. But it happened (Friday)."
Said Zimmermann: "Up here, they don't miss hardly as much as they do (in the minor leagues). You can't be making those mistakes up here."
CARDINALS 6, NATIONALS 2: The Nationals managed just two runs off Cardinals right-hander Todd Wellemeyer, and were down 5-0 by the sixth inning after St. Louis tagged Jordan Zimmermann for three home runs. Willie Harris provided the Nationals' only blow with a two-run homer in the seventh.
