or catching a T-shirt tossed into the stands

WASHINGTON -- By the time Danny Espinosa hit his two-run homer in the eighth inning, there were only a couple of hundred fans left in the ballpark, almost all of them congregated behind the two dugouts. A couple of times there was an ad hoc chant-off between the ones in red down the first base line and those in blue on the other side. "You can hear every word at that point," Espinosa said. "Its like a back-field spring training game." Anthony Rendon hit a two-run homer in the first inning Monday night, and -- thanks to an odd-moving storm that produced an interminable rain delay -- Espinosa and the Washington Nationals didnt finish off the Los Angeles Dodgers until some six hours later on Tuesday morning, holding on for a 4-0 victory and gaining sole possession of first place in the NL East. Jordan Zimmerman pitched four shutout innings before the game was halted, and five relievers threw an inning apiece after play resumed. In between, there was an interruption of 3 hours, 17 minutes while a narrow, cigar-shaped storm took its time soaking D.C. and not much else. "You certainly wait around that long, you want to win the game," Nationals manager Matt Williams said. Aaron Barrett (2-0) got the win mainly because he happened to be Washingtons first reliever when play resumed. Zack Greinke (5-1) got a hard-luck first loss of the season, and plate umpire John Tumpane became the MVP for calling strikes and getting the game done in a reasonable hurry once the tarp was removed. There were four strikeouts before the delay, 16 after it. "We dont get off to a good start, they get a couple quick runs, and then obviously a three-hour delay in there and lose Zack," Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said. "Really, we had chances, we just didnt do anything." The rain limited Greinke to three innings, ending a streak that had been unmatched for a century. He had 18 consecutive regular-season starts of at least five innings while allowing two runs or fewer -- the longest such run in the majors since 1914. "Its not really like its an important streak; no one really cares about it anyway," Greinke said. "If it was like a consecutive win streak or something more important than that, it would mean a little more." Dodgers slugger Yasiel Puig sat out the marathon, still sore after crashing into an outfield wall in the ninth inning of Sundays 5-4 road loss to the Miami Marlins. Manager Don Mattingly said Puig remained day to day and declined to say directly whether a concussion has been ruled out. Nationals left fielder Nate McLouth had his own crash-into-wall injury in the eighth inning, when he made a sliding backhand catch of a foul ball. Both hands and both knees hit the wall hard, and his right hand was bleeding as he walked off the field. Williams said McLouth wasnt seriously hurt. The cut didnt require stitches, although a banged-up knee will almost certainly be sore for a while. Zimmermann held the fort until the middle of the fourth, when the dozens of bags of sands poured on the infield by the grounds crew were no longer a match for the weather. The fans who stayed behind were treated to a scoreboard broadcast of their city-sports-brethren Washington Wizards winning an NBA playoff game. Also shown during the delay was the Atlanta Braves loss to the St. Louis Cardinals, which helped the Nationals vault into first in the division. The fans who remained when play resumed had unusually good odds when it came to chasing a foul ball, or catching a T-shirt tossed into the stands as part of a standard promotion. "Fans are going crazy," Zimmermann said. "Its a game, you have to play no matter how many fans are out there. The place wasnt exactly rocking, but it was a game we had to play." NOTES: Greinke had been unbeaten in his previous 13 starts (9-0) vs. NL East teams. ... The Nationals plan to promote RHP Blake Treinen from Triple-A Syracuse to start Tuesdays game. RHP Ryan Mattheus will be optioned to Syracuse. ... Clayton Kershaw (strained back) is scheduled to come off the disabled list Tuesday and start for the Dodgers. ... Kershaw is expected to take the roster spot held for a day by RHP Pedro Baez, who was recalled Monday from Double-A Chattanooga and made his major league debut in the eighth inning. RHP Stephen Fife, who started Sundays game, was optioned to Triple-A Albuquerque. ... Mattingly said LHP Hyun-Jin Ryu, who missed Sundays start with a sore shoulder, did not need an MRI and would resume throwing Tuesday. ... Washington reinstated OF Scott Hairston (strained side muscle) from the 15-day DL and optioned OF Steven Souza Jr. to Triple-A Syracuse. ... Washington C Wilson Ramos (hand) caught nine innings for Double-A Harrisburg on Monday and could rejoin the team later this week. Jason Pominville Jersey . Mueller is the grandson of the late Ron Lancaster, the Hall-of-Fame quarterback and longtime head coach in the CFL. Last season, Mueller was quarterbacks coach of the University of Regina Rams, his alma mater. Zemgus Girgensons Jersey .TV Series: Duck Dynasty. http://www.authenticsabrespro.com/Domini...-sabres-jersey/. The San Angelo, Texas product, who was a high school and college quarterback sensation in the Lone Star State, will start his first CFL game with the Saskatchewan Roughriders (9-4) on Friday at Mosaic Stadium against the leagues top team, the Calgary Stampeders (11-2). Rick Martin Jersey . Replay backed him up. Adeiny Hechavarria immediately followed the ruling with a go-ahead sacrifice fly for the Miami Marlins, who held on to beat the Seattle Mariners 3-2 on Sunday completing a three-game sweep. Jack Eichel Jersey . -- Jimmie Johnson has a sixth NASCAR championship in hand and two legends within reach.TORONTO - Toronto starter Mark Buehrle needed just six frames Wednesday night to reach the 200-inning plateau for the 14th consecutive season.He achieved his goal in style by nearly going the distance in one of his finest starts of the year.Buehrle was masterful on a cool, breezy evening at Rogers Centre, striking out 10 and allowing three hits over eight-plus innings as the Blue Jays topped the Seattle Mariners 1-0.He was as good as youre ever going to see him, said Toronto manager John Gibbons. He was strong the whole night. His ball was really ducking and darting in there.Buehrle threw 64 of his 93 pitches for strikes and allowed one walk. The announced crowd of 16,836 gave him a standing ovation when he reached the 200-inning mark and again when he was pulled after giving up a leadoff single in the ninth.It means a lot because I had put this goal on myself in spring training, Buehrle said. Obviously getting there means a lot. Its disappointing because were going home on Sunday, were not going to continue playing a€” especially the way I felt and the way my ball was moving tonight, I almost want to throw tomorrow.I felt that good and my ball was moving. I guess thats the disappointing thing and (its) frustrating that I feel this good and Im done.Toronto (81-77) was eliminated from post-season contention a night earlier. The Mariners playoff hopes took another hit with their fifth straight loss. Seattle (83-75), which has an elimination number of two, is three games out of an American League wild-card spot.The game was scoreless until the eighth inning. Munenori Kawasaki drew a one-out walk, Anthony Gose struck out and Ryan Goins followed with a blooper into shallow right-centre field.Kawasaki was running on contact and was waved home when the ball dropped in and took a big bounce on the artificial turf.Taijuan Walker (2-3) was the hard-luck loser. He pitched a career-high eight innings, allowing one earned run, four hits and a walk while striking out six.That young man threw a tremendous ball game, said Seattle manager Lloyd McClendon. He really stepped up, he did everything we asked him to do.Buehrle (13-10) gave up a leadoff single to Chris Taylor in the ninth. Reliever Aaron Sanchez came on and picked off pinch-runner James Jones at first base before getting the next two outs for his third save.Toronto exxtended its winning streak to three in a game that took only one hour 59 minutes to complete.dddddddddddd It was the first major-league game under the two-hour mark since June 2012.The teams breezed through the first three innings with a Jose Bautista single and double by Seattles Corey Hart providing the only early ticks in the hit column. Bautista, who entered the game with an American League-leading .409 on-base percentage, has reached base safely in 27 straight games.Dustin Ackley beat out an infield single to open the fourth inning. Buehrle needed only three pitches to get Robinson Cano to pop up and cleanup man Kendrys Morales to hit into a 6-4-3 double play.Walker answered with a similar display in the fifth. The slow-moving Dioner Navarro led off with a drive to the wall but stayed at first base rather than challenge right-fielder Logan Morrisons arm.The Seattle starter got Dalton Pompey of Mississauga, Ont., to pop up and Kawasaki to ground into a 4-6-3 double play.Buehrle put on the leadoff man in the sixth by issuing a walk to Mike Zunino, who moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Taylor. The veteran southpaw responded by fanning Austin Jackson and Ackley.Gose made a great sliding catch on a sinking liner in shallow centre field to deny Morrison a hit in the seventh. Buehrle fanned Hart and Zunino to keep the game scoreless.The way my ball was moving, it was almost at times moving too much where I couldnt control it, Buehrle said. (I was) getting ahead in the strike zone, hitting my spots and the ball was moving.Notes: It was Buehrles 461st consecutive start without a disabled list stint. ... Buehrle has recorded at least 10 wins, 200 innings and 30 starts in 14 straight seasons a€” the longest active streak in the major leagues. Hes the first pitcher to achieve that feat since Gaylord Perry did it over 15 years from 1966-80. Don Sutton also recorded at least 200 innings pitched per year in the same span. The 1981 strike ended both streaks. ... Left-hander Daniel Norris (0-0, 5.40 ERA) is scheduled to start for the Blue Jays in the series finale Thursday night. The Mariners will counter with right-hander Tom Wilhelmsen (3-2, 2.10). ... Toronto will close out the regular season with a three-game series against the Baltimore Orioles beginning Friday.Follow @GregoryStrongCP on Twitter. 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