James Wood nailed a runner at the plate to snuff-out a Diamondbacks potential comeback in the 8th inning.
The Washington Nationals set multiple offensive records in the first inning of Saturday night’s 11-7 win in Arizona. But that 11-run lead turned into a 4-run sweat. If not for a James Wood throw to home that turned into an out, who knows what would have happened.
As it was, the Nationals bullpen was depleted, as happens when you are in a winning streak — you rely on your top relievers, and closer Kyle Finnegan, Jorge Lopez, and Brad Lord were not available. Why wasn’t Lopez available? He was DFA’d before the game. While manager Dave Martinez tried to put the spin on it that Lopez was DFA’d due to on-the-field reasons, a source told us before the news was made official that Lopez was taken off the roster based on other issues that the source did not want to make public. Lopez was the only reliever besides Finnegan with a save this season for the Nationals. Lopez’s tenure ends with a 6-0 record, and five games finished for the Nats.
“It was all about he has ups and downs so far this year. …”
— Martinez said about the DFA
“Sometimes places aren’t the right fit, and I don’t think this was the right fit for [Lopez].”
The pitcher brought up for Lopez was Eduardo Salazar, and he wasn’t used, nor was Zach Brzykcy. With a 9-run lead, Martinez did his usual and pushed his starter into another inning when he was clearly breathing heavy, and his fastball velo dropped 2-3 mph. Michael Soroka had a nice 5.0 inning 2-run game going that began with 3.0 perfect innings. He departed with 1-out in the 6th inning and 94 pitches with 2-runners left on-base.
In came reliever Jackson Rutledge to send Soroka to the showers. Rutledge’s record prior to taking over was that he had allowed 5-of-8 inherited runners to score this season (now 7-of-10). Not the type of reliever you send in for that type of spot. In what should have been a low stress assignment, it was anything but that.
Unfortunately for Soroka, Rutledge isn’t anything close to a fireman type of reliever. Those two inherited runners scored quickly on Soroka’s ledger, plus three more runs. If the Nats were trying to showcase Soroka for a July trade, they are just devaluing the pitcher they signed to a 1-year $9 million deal. His 5.81 ERA is the type of record that gets most pitchers DFA’d or demoted.
The 8th inning started with 2-runners on-base via walks from Cole Henry, and then a single. If not for Wood’s throw to Keibert Ruiz to nail the runner at home for the second out of the inning, this game could have been a disaster — and honestly, it kind of was. Sure, the Nats won, but it was ugly.
The Nats had to use Jose Ferrer for the 7th inning, and Cole Henry to close-out the final two innings. Both combined for the three scoreless. But if Wood’s throw wasn’t perfect, who knows what happens with Henry’s 8th inning and the game.
Besides the Lopez drama, the story once again became Martinez’s total disregard for a starter who had nothing left in the tank. It was known when the Nats acquired Soroka that he was a real-good “opener” type of starter which is why the White Sox, last year, demoted him to the bullpen where he thrived. This season, Soroka has a 2.50 ERA in innings 1-3, and a 10.38 ERA in innings 4-6. But if you manage his innings like we’ve discussed incessantly about Patrick Corbin‘s usage in Texas, you can get more from less from your pitchers. This was discussed extensively yesterday.
All of those Nats’ offensive numbers were great, and then with an 11-0 lead in the second inning, the Nationals offense went into hibernation for the remaining seven innings of the game. A game that went from a laugher to a nail-biter. On the good side, the Nats are now 11-4 since mid-May. The team won a series in Arizona and will try to beat Corbin Burnes today for a sweep. There is a scheduled day-off tomorrow. Everyone will get a much-needed day to rest up.
