Stephen Strasburg was on the mound against Johnny Cueto at Great American Ballpark on Sunday as the Washington Nationals took on the Cincinnati Reds and while the game was exciting, the most amazing play of the weekend came in the stands the previous day on Saturday when a fan made a barehanded catch on a home run from Jayson Werth.
According to Yahoo Sports, during the seventh inning of Washington's 7-6 victory over the Reds Saturday, Werth hit a rocket shot home run off of Cincinnati pitcher Sam LeCure and put it over the right center fence that made its way into the stands over the first area in the ballpark. A fan in the stands caught the home run with his bare left hand, while holding his child in his right one. The fan received an ovation from the surrounding crowd and despite the fact that the Reds lost the game in extra innings, the fan may have made the play of the year.
Strasburg had a rough outing against Cueto on Sunday while allowing nine hits and six runs with four walks in over five innings of work and Jay Bruce was tops with three RBIs for the Reds as they pulled through 6-3 to finish their first week of games. Cueto lasted six innings and 108 pitches in the game and he struck out six batters and allowed three runs.
Aroldis Chapman had the save for the Reds and added two strikeouts in the final frame to close things out for Cueto. The Reds tagged Strasburg early in the game and scored three runs in the first off of hits by Jay Bruce and Todd Frazier. Kurt Suzuki tied the game for the Nationals with a three-run home run, but the team did not score the rest of the way and gave up the winning run in the sixth inning.
The Reds have started off the season 4-2 after dropping Saturday's game against the Nationals and the team has started off fast offensively, ranking second in runs and slugging percentage in the league. The Washington Nationals are also 4-2 while ranking 18th in scoring and ninth in slugging percentage and they will face off against the Chicago White Sox next.