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Zimmerman's game-winning HR christens Nats' new park

Mon 31st, March 2008

Washington, DC (Sports Network) - Ryan Zimmerman's dramatic two-out homer off Peter Moylan in the ninth inning boosted Washington to an incredible 3-2 win over the Atlanta Braves in the first official game at brand new Nationals Park.

The Nationals didn't have a base runner past the first inning until Zimmerman tattooed Moylan's 1-0 offering over the wall in center field to end the game. Until that point, the combination of Tim Hudson, Will Ohman and Moylan (0-1) had retired 24 straight Washington batters.

Jon Rauch (1-0), whose low pitch to the plate allowed pinch-runner Martin Prado to score the tying run in the ninth, picked up the victory. Rauch was inserted as the Nationals closer after Chad Cordero experienced tendinitis in his right shoulder.

Nick Johnson and Austin Kearns had run-scoring hits in the first inning for the Nationals.

Chipper Jones homered in the fourth inning for Atlanta.

After spending their last three years at vast RFK Stadium, the Nationals finally have a place to call their own, a state-of-the-art 41,888-seat stadium located along the Anacostia River, which includes views of the Capitol and the Washington Monument.

President George W. Bush, wearing a Nationals jacket, was greeted with a mix of boos and cheers before he threw out the ceremonial first pitch, which was high to Washington second-year manager Manny Acta.

Both teams were anemic on offense, but it took Zimmerman's fourth career walk- off homer to end the game. Moylan fanned Cristian Guzman to start the ninth and Lastings Milledge grounded out before Zimmerman became the hero.

"The crowd sees him as our big hope and he came through," Acta said of Zimmerman.

Lefty Odalis Perez, who got the first opening day start of his career, allowed four hits, including the Jones homer, over the first five innings for the Nationals.

Hudson, in his 10th major league season, retired the final 19 hitters he faced. He was charged with three hits and two runs through seven innings.

A crowd of 39,389 saw a great finish to the North American lid-lifter, less than a week after the Boston Red Sox and Oakland Athletics split a two-game series in Japan to start the 2008 regular season.

Kelly Johnson fouled off Perez' first pitch of the game and struck out to end the first at-bat at the new stadium.

In the bottom of the first, the Nationals took advantage of an error and got a pair of two-out run-scoring hits to move ahead. The first hit at the new park came when Guzman slapped a broken-bat single to right field on the first pitch from Hudson. Guzman then went to third on an errant pick-off throw, as the ball bounded in foul territory down the right-field line. Hudson fanned Milledge and Zimmerman, but Nick Johnson came through with a broken-bat double to right field for the game's first run. Kearns then singled to right for the 2-0 lead.

Nick Johnson was playing in a regular season game for the first time since breaking his right leg on September 23, 2006 in a collision with Kearns.

Jones drove a 2-0 pitch from Perez into the second row in left-center field with one out in the fourth to cut the deficit in half.

The Nats continued to hold the edge until the ninth when Mark Teixeira doubled to right-center field with one out. Prado went to third on Jeff Francoeur's groundout and scored on a passed ball from Paul Lo Duca, as a low and inside pitch from Rauch got by the new Washington catcher.

The Braves, who finished third in the NL East last season at 84-78, had five hits, one more than Washington.

The Nationals, who were fourth in the NL East at 73-89 in 2007, are trying to make a big turnaround from a horrible start last year when they dropped eight of their first nine games.

"We really don't want to get in a hole like we did last year and I hope everybody can build up on this one," Acta said. "I like my team. I like these guys. They're young, they're energetic. They play hard and good things will happen to us."

Game Notes

Nationals left fielder Elijah Dukes departed after the fifth inning with a tight right hamstring...This marked the earliest date ever for a Braves season opener...Washington will travel to Philadelphia for a Monday afternoon contest in the opener of a three-game series, while the Braves head home for a three- game set versus Pittsburgh, starting Monday night...Nationals Park is the fourth to open in DC since 1982...Atlanta won 11 of its 18 matchups with the Nationals a year ago...The Braves wore their new alternate blue-on-blue uniforms for the game.

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