Zach Duke made a big impact in his debut with the Arizona Diamondbacks last Saturday, hitting the first home run of his career and throwing seven shutout innings.
But the Duke was unable to recreate the magic in last night's 6-1 loss to the Washington Nationals.
The Nationals came out strong, scoring three runs on three consecutive hits with two outs against Duke in the first inning to set the tone at Chase Field. Arizona never threatened in the game.
Duke gave up another run in the fifth, after Michael Morse singled to center, Danny Espinosa singled him over to third, and Wilson Ramos grounded out an RBI on a fielder's choice.
Aaron Heilman, who carried an 8.15 ERA into the game, gave up the last two runs against the Nationals in the ninth inning. His ERA stands at an atrocious 8.68.
The rest of the bullpen got through the game without incident. Micah Owings pitched the sixth and seventh innings while Esmerling Vasquez took the eighth.
Jordan Zimmerman was solid on the bump for the Nationals, throwing seven innings of one-run ball. The Diamondbacks got their only run in the seventh inning after Miguel Montero doubled to lead off the frame, moved to third on a sacrifice fly by Xavier Nady, and scored on a Gerardo Parra groundout.
Otherwise, it was a quiet game for the Diamondbacks and a bit of a letdown after Wednesday night's come-from-behind win against the Marlins.
