The trend that’s developed this season of the Nats playing flat and uninspired baseball in rubber matches continued tonight, as they consistently had no answer for the St. Louis Cardinals on either side of the ball. An ugly performance all around by the visitors was indicative of what we’ve grown accustomed to seeing from this ballclub in series-winning opportunities this season.
Michael Soroka got the start tonight for Washington and never had his best stuff. His command wasn’t there, getting him into deep counts early and often throughout his outing, and he struggled all night to put guys away. The Cardinals jumped on top in the bottom of the first inning on an RBI groundout from Alec Burleson, but Soroka would end the frame only down 1-0.
The score would remain that way until Burleson’s next at-bat in the bottom of the third, as he once again drove in Brendan Donovan to score, this time on an RBI single. Soroka, once again, was able to limit the damage in this inning, and after three, the Nats trailed only 2-0.
That would be all the damage that Soroka allowed tonight over four innings, but a very high pitch count would lead Miguel Cairo to pull him after just four shaky innings. Soroka has typically been very effective early in starts this season, these last two outings from him have been concerning outliers from the rest of his body of work this year. Hopefully the All-Star break will be an opportunity for him to rest and regroup his body for the final two and a half months of this season and we can see the old Soroka back.
On the other side, Miles Mikolas faced the Nationals earlier this season and tossed 5.2 innings on just 69 pitches. Tonight, the crafty right-hander proved his consistency as he once again went 5.2 against Washington, this time on 71 pitches. Considering he entered tonight with an ERA above 5 on the season, this is a continuance of yet another alarming trend from the Nats’ offense laying an egg against a pitcher that’s struggled mightily against the rest of the league.
- Michael Soroka: 4 innings, 4 hits, 2 runs (both earned), 2 walks, 4 strikeouts, 91 pitches
- Miles Mikolas: 5.2 innings, 2 hits, 0 runs, 1 walk, 6 strikeouts, 71 pitches
Tonight was definitely not Mason Thompson‘s night. I’ll leave it at that. He entered the game in the bottom of the sixth tasked with keeping the deficit at 2-0, but he would face six batters and only retire one of them. The Cardinals began the damage with an RBI single by Nolan Arenado, followed by an RBI single by Yohel Pozo that went right under the glove of CJ Abrams. Thompson’s one out came on an RBI groundout by Victor Scott, but the damage continued against Jackson Rutledge as Brendan Donovan picked up a sac fly, and Masyn Winn capped off the inning with an RBI double. As the sun set on the sixth inning, it was pretty much out of hand, with the Nats down 7-0.
That margin would grow by one more in the bottom of the seventh, as Willson Contreras led off the inning with his 12th homer of the year, making it 8-0 and another dreadful night for the Nationals’ bullpen.
The Nats got on the scoreboard for the one and only time in the eighth as Jacob Young picked up an RBI on a groundout scoring Daylen Lile, whose 14 game hitting streak came to an end tonight. That would make it an 8-1 score which would be the final tally.
Positives tonight were pretty scarce. Andrew Chafin and Kyle Finnegan both threw scoreless innings in relief tonight on the pitching side. Offensively, the Nats had no multi-hit games or anybody reach base more than once, with the offensive highlight of the night coming on a ground-rule double by CJ Abrams to lead off the game.
The Nats have a late-night flight tonight to Milwaukee, where tomorrow night they’ll begin the final series before the All-Star break. The first game of the series will get underway at 8:10 tomorrow night, Mitchell Parker (5-9, 4.72 ERA) will try to shake off his rough start last Saturday against Boston and finish the first half on a positive note. The Nationals will stand in the box against Quinn Priester (6-2, 3.59 ERA), whose been a real surprise for the Brewers’ pitching staff this season, acquired in a trade with Boston, he’s been a real contributor for Milwaukee this season. Let’s hope they find the offense buried somewhere in the visitor’s clubhouse at Busch Stadium and bring it on the plane to Milwaukee, because it’s going to take some runs if the Nats want to enter the break with a series win over the Brew Crew.
