Early on in this one, it looked like we may be in for another offensive output similar to last night’s. Unfortunately, the Padres’ bullpen brought their best stuff tonight, squashing all hopes of a fruitful evening for the Nationals’ bats. The Nats played well enough to win tonight, they did a good job of keeping traffic on the base paths, and the pitching was good for most of the game. In the end they came up just one clutch hit short of taking the first two games of this series in San Diego.
The Nats jumped on Padres’ starter Ryan Bergert early, mounting a rally in the second inning that culminated in a safety squeeze RBI from Jacob Young and a bases-loaded walk to James Wood, giving the Nats an early 2-0 lead. Meanwhile, it was a hot start to the game for San Diego-native, Trevor Williams. While the offense was out grabbing an early lead, Williams put up three straight zeroes to start the ballgame.
The game took a scary turn in the top of the fourth. Jacob Young led off the inning with a line drive back up the middle that hit Ryan Bergert square-on, forcing him to exit the game with an apparent injury. This would require the Padres to ask six innings from their bullpen, and James Wood capitalized that inning with an RBI groundout off of Adrian Morejon to increase the lead to 3-0.
The Padres finally jumped on the scoreboard in the bottom of the fourth, Xander Bogaerts delivered an RBI groundout, and Jake Cronenworth hit a laser off the right field fence for an RBI double to cut the Nationals’ lead to 3-2.
Unlike last night, the Nationals were unable all night to respond to jabs thrown by the San Diego jabs with jabs of their own. After the successful bottom of the fourth, Martin Maldonado tied the ballgame up with a solo home run in the bottom of the fifth. Trevor Williams was then allowed to start the bottom of the sixth inning, as he had been extremely efficient with his pitch count all night, but his command stayed in the dugout that inning. He threw eight straight balls and walked both of the hitters he faced in the sixth before Dave Martinez pulled him and gave the ball to Cole Henry.
- Trevor Williams: 5 innings, 7 hits, 4 runs (all earned), 2 walks, 3 strikeouts, 70 pitches
- Ryan Bergert: 3 innings, 5 hits, 3 runs (all earned), 3 walks, 4 strikeouts, 69 pitches
Henry would only compound the issue, walking the first batter he faced, to load the bases with nobody out. The Padres took the lead on the next batter as Jose Iglesias grounded out to first in a controversial decision by Nathaniel Lowe, as it appeared he had time to throw home and cut down the go-ahead run at the plate. Instead, he chose to take it to first for the easier out, and two batters later, the Nats were out of the inning, only down 4-3.
I mentioned earlier that the Padres’ pitching staff came to play. After Bergert left the game, their bullpen threw six scoreless innings, only allowing two hits. The combination of Adrian Morejon, Jason Adam, Jeremiah Estrada, and Robert Suarez combined to shut the Nats down over the final six frames, sealing the deal on the 4-3 Padres win. This one was a frustrating one to watch because it looked early on like we were in for another excellent offensive performance, before all of a sudden the hits just stopped completely and never came back. This was a very winnable game, and on this road trip, blowing a game that’s so closely in reach is not a good outcome.
In tonight’s positives, the Nats’ bullpen had a good night. Cole Henry, Jose A. Ferrer, and Eduardo Salazar combined to throw the last three frames without allowing a run or a hit, keeping the Nationals in a position to win the game all the way up to the end. CJ Abrams had another good night, finding his way on base three times, him and Jacob Young were the only guys in the lineup with multi-hit performances tonight.
As much as a loss like this lingers in memory, the great news is there’s always tomorrow. The Nationals have a chance to win this series with their ace on the mound tomorrow afternoon. The rubber match will get underway at 4:10 PM. MacKenzie Gore (3-7, 3.19 ERA) will be on the mound, trying to recover from his shaky outing last Friday in Los Angeles. He will be opposed by Nick Pivetta (7-2, 3.64 ERA), having a great season in his first year in San Diego. It certainly will not be easy tomorrow, but the opportunity is right in front of the team to take a series against a very good ballclub, and given the struggles so far this month, that would be a major pick-me-up for both players and fans alike. Those just reading this article without having watched the game may have an easier time getting the taste of tonight’s game out of their mouths, but I urge you to do so quickly and instead turn your focus to that tremendous opportunity that we have tomorrow. Let’s go and make it a great day.
