Democratic members of Congress beat their Republican counterparts, 21-5, Thursday in the annual Congressional Baseball Game for Charity at Nationals Park in Washington.

Rep. Cedric L. Richmond pitched a complete game for the Democrats, who won 11-2 last year. 

House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, who was severely wounded in the shooting at the Republican team’s practice the day before last year’s game, started the game at second base for the GOP and made a putout at first base on the game’s first pitch, bringing both dugouts and the crowd to their feet.

Here are highlights from the game:

Correction 11:53 p.m. | The photo caption in an earlier version of this story misidentified the first name of the Democrats’ catcher, Sen. Christopher S. Murphy.

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President Donald Trump on Friday suggested a Justice Department inspector general report that faulted the FBI for its actions during the 2016 campaign shows James B. Comey is not credible as the president tries to sow doubts about the agency’s Russia probe.

The department released the IG’s final report on the FBI’s handling of a probe into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server as secretary of State, which contained an anecdote from one senior agent involved in that case texting another about the prospect of then-businessman and reality television star Trump becoming president: “We’ll stop it.”

The report found no evidence that agent or others within the bureau acted out of political bias during the 2016 election cycle, but that is not stopping the president and his aides from using it to their ends — including to ding Comey, the former FBI director Trump fired and who already has spoken to Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III.

Trump tweeted Friday morning that the IG’s findings are “a total disaster for Comey, his minions and sadly, the FBI.” The president, who admitted in a television interview that the Russia probe was on his mind when he decided to fire Comey. He has since denied that.

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[Democrats Score Big in 21–5 Baseball Blowout Over GOP]

Trump ripped the agents who exchanged the texts and reiterated his contentions that “Comey will now officially go down as the worst leader, by far, in the history of the FBI” and that he “did a great service to the people in firing him.”

The IG Report is a total disaster for Comey, his minions and sadly, the FBI. Comey will now officially go down as the worst leader, by far, in the history of the FBI. I did a great service to the people in firing him. Good Instincts. Christopher Wray will bring it proudly back!

FBI Agent Peter Strzok, who headed the Clinton & Russia investigations, texted to his lover Lisa Page, in the IG Report, that “we’ll stop” candidate Trump from becoming President. Doesn’t get any lower than that!

“The president was briefed on the IG report earlier today and it reaffirmed the president’s suspicions about Comey’s conduct and the political bias among some of the members of the FBI,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Thursday.

The president’s tweet and ongoing attacks on Comey’s credibility matter, even if they are — as legal experts say — unlikely to influence Mueller’s thinking about whether to bring charges against Trump or some of his closest aides and family members. That’s because the attempts to paint Comey as biased and not credible appear aimed at influencing public opinion, which matters greatly since impeachment is a political matter.

The Trump team knows the president continues to poll well in GOP strongholds and even some of the blue-collar areas he won to the shock of the Clinton campaign. If constituents in those places have doubts about Comey, their representatives might not support impeachment proceedings and could be reluctant to buck their voters by voting to impeach the 45th chief executive.

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House Democrats on Thursday also used the report and its findings about Comey to push their own narrative, one that runs counter to the Trump’s contention that the then-FBI boss was out to get him and stop him from becoming president.

“The stark conclusion we draw after reviewing this report is that the FBI's actions helped Donald Trump become president,” Rep. Elijah E. Cummings of Maryland, ranking member of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and Rep. Jerrold Nadler of New York, ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, said in a joint statement,

“Director Comey had a double-standard: He spoke publicly about the Clinton investigation while keeping secret from the American people the investigation of Donald Trump and Russia,” the duo said. “The FBI should not have spoken publicly about the case after recommending against criminal charges. They should not have revealed that they had reopened the case just days before the election.”

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It’s been 25 years since women first participated in the Congressional Baseball Game, but that doesn’t mean more women are playing.

California Democratic Rep. Nanette Barragán is one of only three women signed up to play in this year’s game. But only she and Utah Republican Rep. Mia Love will be on the field. (Rep. Linda T. Sánchez, also a California Democrat, is sidelined with a broken hand.)

“A lot has changed in 25 years, but when it comes to this sort of thing, we need to acknowledge not much progress has been made,” Barragán said.

Three congresswomen broke the gender barrier at the 1993 game: Florida Republican Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Washington Democrat Maria Cantwell and Arkansas Democrat Blanche Lambert (who later served in the Senate under her married name Lincoln). Cantwell, now a senator, does not play anymore, while Ros-Lehtinen sticks to the Congressional Women’s Softball Game. Lincoln no longer serves in Congress, having lost her re-election in 2010.

Thinking back to that first game, Ros-Lehtinen said her Cuban heritage might have factored in her recruitment. While she knew she wasn’t a “power slugger,” she said she couldn’t turn down the chance to join the renowned game, and fought to keep up with the previously all-male team.

“It’s a bloodsport,” she recalled. “And the team was definitely concerned about my small stature. But it was worth it to be a part of this historic part of Congress.”

Watch: The History of the Congressional Baseball Game

Ros-Lehtinen’s participation did make a difference, even if getting the other players to take women in baseball seriously was a slow process.

Sánchez, who played in a few games with Ros-Lehtinen, also had trouble getting herself out on the field. She’s played in 14 of the last 15 games, but  said she had to fight to be seen as an equal competitor on the team. Many years, she did not get the chance to play, she added, even though she was “definitely not the worst player.”

But this year, the Democrats’ coach, Pennsylvania Rep. Mike Doyle, told Sánchez he was thinking of playing Barragán at second base. Sánchez, who helped Barragán campaign and recruited her to the baseball team, said she was elated.

“It took me over 10 years to get a shot in the field in the game,” Sánchez said. “Even if numbers are low, the time frame’s getting a lot better, which means people are taking women in the game seriously.”

Being the only woman on the team back in the day didn’t make her uncomfortable, Sánchez said. In fact, it helped her get settled in Washington during her first years in Congress.

“Playing baseball was honestly a turning point for me on the Hill,” she said. “It was my first times interacting with other members in a fun way that is off the Hill and getting to make friends on both sides of the aisle.”

Getting women to participate in the Congressional Baseball Game may seem like a minor issue to many, but getting women playing on a Major League Baseball field could make a huge difference for girls and young women who want to play baseball competitively.

Barragán said seeing women get taken seriously while playing baseball has been a passion since childhood. The California Democrat grew up playing baseball with her neighbors, and recalled feeling frustrated when she was told she couldn’t play anymore as she got older because of her gender. She petitioned her high school to try out for the boys’ baseball team and ended up making the junior varsity squad.

Getting to keep playing baseball throughout her career has been an unexpected benefit of being in Congress, Barragán said.

“Every kid dreams of playing on a Major League Baseball field, and doing it in Congress is a unique way to get there,” she said. “But it’s still getting there. Letting kids see us play makes a difference.”

Getting more women involved in the congressional games could help push female participation in baseball overall. Even if it’s not the big leagues, having women playing as equals in these games makes a difference for young girls watching, Barragán said.

“If I saw a woman getting to play at the Nationals’ field as a kid, I would be blown away,” she said. “I want to do that for girls growing up now. I want to be that person now.”

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