Nationals can't get quite enough on the mound, fall short against Padres

Washington Post

4 days ago

SAN DIEGO — In a vacuum, the Washington Nationals fell in a 4-3 loss to the San Diego Padres because of the sixth inning. They lost because Trevor Williams and Cole Henry walked three straight batters, and because Nathaniel Lowe opted for a force out at first rather than a throw home — a decision Lowe seemed displeased with after the fact — that allowed the go-ahead run to come across and prompted Petco Park to erupt.
But baseball is not played in a vacuum, so this requires a little more explanation.
The Nationals have not had a day off since June 9. Even as the offense has heated up, the schedule has taken its toll on both the team's starters and relievers. Since June 10, only the New York Yankees have asked for more innings from their starting pitchers. Manager Dave Martinez has tried to get his young bullpen some time off.
On Tuesday, that meant putting Williams back out in the sixth when he began to fade in the fifth. A day earlier, it was asking Mitchell Parker to get an out in the seventh after he faded in the sixth. Neither recorded an out.
Williams threw four straight balls to walk Gavin Sheets to start the sixth. Pitching coach Jim Hickey walked out. Williams threw four more pitches to Xander Bogaerts. All four landed outside the zone, and it was Martinez's turn to walk out slowly. This time, Williams was done. His ERA climbed to 5.65. The Nationals have not won back-to-back games since May 30 and 31 at Arizona.
The bullpen, meanwhile, is stuck. The team's reliance on young relievers is one side effect from the unsuccessful tenures of now-released Lucas Sims, Colin Poche and Jorge López. The bullpen is full of young arms who have not felt the demands of an MLB season before, save for Kyle Finnegan. Only two of Washington's relievers have more than 70 career innings pitched. Every reliever in San Diego's bullpen who threw Tuesday had at least 100 career innings.
That leads to results similar to Tuesday, when a taxed starter stumbled for the Nationals, and the Padres' experienced bullpen closed them out. An offense that was clicking early, failing to chase what Padres starter Ryan Bergert threw them, could not touch the bullpen. And because Bergert exited after Jacob Young hit a 103.3-mph liner back at him, there was quite a bit for them to mow down.
Young's sacrifice bunt in the second brought a run in, and Wood's RBI walk a couple batters later drove in another. In the fourth, Wood drove in another with a soft groundout.
But the Padres got back in it in a hurry. Williams threw a lot of early fastballs. The Padres hit when he adjusted on his second turn through the order, putting up two runs in the fourth. Padres nine-hole hitter Martín Maldonado sent the first pitch Williams threw in the fifth — a fastball down the middle — over the wall in left field to tie the game at 3.
From there, Martinez chose to leave his starter in. After eight pitches, he walked out slowly to get him.
The Nationals placed Keibert Ruiz on the 10-day injured list Tuesday with a head contusion after he was hit by a foul ball in the dugout during Monday's win. The team recalled catcher Drew Millas from Class AAA Rochester.
'I don't feel like normal,' Ruiz said Tuesday afternoon. 'I don't feel like 100 percent, and I don't feel good to catch today. If I get another foul ball on my head, I don't think that that would be good. I got two kids that need me. ... If it's another part of my body, it's okay. But this is the head. That I got to take it seriously.'
A CT scan for a concussion came back negative, according to Martinez. Ruiz said he woke up Tuesday with a headache and felt dizzy on his walk to Petco Park. He will travel with the team for the rest of the trip, but Martinez said the Nationals will be cautious bringing him back. There's no timeline for his return.
'I turned my head to the right to see the ball, and when I turn right away it hit me right there [on the right side of my head],' Ruiz said. 'After that, oh, my God. Feels like black. I can't even talk for a couple seconds.'
Martinez said he hasn't decided on the time split between Millas and Riley Adams while Ruiz is out. Millas arrived in the clubhouse Tuesday and checked on Ruiz before meeting with other teammates. He had focused on hitting for more power this month at Rochester, and it paid dividends. He had an .826 OPS in June.