Ryan Zimmerman is good again
As if the Washington Nationals needed more lineup depth.
First baseman Ryan Zimmerman hit a solo home run in the bottom of the second inning Friday off New York Mets starter Jacob deGrom. He added a two-run blast off reliever Addison Reed in the eighth.
The 2-for-4 outing raised his season slash line to .392/.442/.861. Zimmerman's career has been somewhat derailed by injuries of late, maxing out at 115 games over the last three seasons. Finally healthy, he's another cog in the dangerous Nationals machine.
Even in 2016, when he played those 115 games, he only hit one home run in all of April. After Friday night, he has 10 in 2017.
It seems only fitting that the Nationals' first ever draft pick would wind up as the first player to hit 10 home runs in a month for the team, according to Ryan M. Spaeder of Sporting News. That's right, not even professional destroyer of baseballs Bryce Harper has hit 10 home runs in a single month.
Vladimir Guerrero accomplished the feat in July, 2001 when the franchise was still the Montreal Expos. Since relocating, it hasn't happened.
Until now.
At his healthiest, Zimmerman was a beast. Between 2009 and '10 he hit .299 with 58 home runs, 69 doubles, and 191 RBIs while making his lone All Star appearance.
Even though the Nationals lost the game, there doesn't appear to be a hole in the lineup. Five players, including Zimmerman, had multi-hit games, and were mainly sunk by Mets catcher Travis d'Arnaud's own pair of long balls.
Batting fourth in a destructive lineup, Zimmerman is doing what the cliche dictates. He's cleaning up.