Both Ryan Dempster and Stephen Strasburg were sharp on Thursday afternoon, but the Nationals were able to scrape together a couple of runs in the game's late stages to pull out a 2-1 victory.
Related: First Pitch Thread: Cubs vs. Nationals, Thursday 4/5, 1:20 CT
Dempster struck out 10 Washington batters and allowed just two hits and one run over the course of 7-2/3 innings of work. Reliever Kerry Wood followed Dempster in the eighth inning and struggled with his control. He would end up walking home the tying run, though the Cubs escaped without further damage.
But the Nationals picked up the go-ahead and game-winning run in the ninth, and while the Cubs threatened in the bottom half of the inning, they were unable to get even.
Tyler Clippard got the win for Washington, Brad Lidge picked up a save and Carlos Marmol took the loss for Chicago.
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