Photo by Sol Tucker for TalkNats
Every Nats starter had a hit in this game, but clawing back from a 9-run hole courtesy of Nats starter Erick Fedde proved to be too deep of a hole as the Nationals lost 11-8. It was good to see Howie Kendrick once again pummeling the ball as he went 3-5 in the game, and Trea Turner, Yan Gomes, and Juan Soto each added home runs. There is no way to put a positive spin on Fedde’s night as he was pulled at 3 2/3 innings and gave up 9-runs on 9-hits with four walks. If there is any good news, manager Dave Martinez only used his “B” bullpen and saved all of his back-end arms thanks to Javy Guerra who mopped up 3 1/3 innings while Michael Blazek and Tony Sipp closed out the game.
“One of these two guys has got to step up,” manager Davey Martinez said about Joe Ross and Fedde. “They have to step up. I’ve said it before. We feel like they belong here, but they’ve got to start making pitches and keeping us in the ballgames.”
Fedde was a model of inefficiency as he threw 93 pitches in his 3 2/3 innings which is just 11 outs and one of those outs came via a caught stealing! Fedde’s ERA was 3.40 before this game, and he finished at 4.67 with the nine earned runs tonight.
“It’s never fun to let your team down,” Fedde said. “It’s one of those ones where I look at it as: Don’t let it happen again. Go back to the drawing board tomorrow and look at where I really struggled, but right now, I’m just trying to get past it.”
At least Fedde took ownership for this mess he left behind, but this has become too commonplace for the “spot” starters. We suggested several times going back to June that a starter upgrade via a trade should be considered.
The Nats defense had some early mistakes that certainly stressed Fedde as well as a play at the plate that seemed to be in favor of the Nats, but not reversed on a video challenge. The Nationals have now lost three straight games that Scherzer was originally scheduled to pitch, and general manager Mike Rizzo has to figure this dark hole out.
The Nats will have a quick turnaround to get back to the park tomorrow for a start at noon which is something the Orioles did not do last week for the Nationals as they had a night game scheduled on a getaway game for the Nats. The Braves are just flying back home, and the Nats have a day-off on Thursday.
