The best news I have for you all is that compared to last night’s game, the Washington Nationals played much better today. That wasn’t a very high bar, but at least they only lost by 6-runs and not seven. The Brewers came out in the first inning today and put up three runs in the first inning to pick up where they left off last night, but to the Nats’ pitching staff’s credit, this game did not turn into the disaster that last night was, or anything resembling it.
Milwaukee jumped on Jake Irvin in the top of the first, getting those three runs on RBI singles by Christian Yelich, Isaac Collins, and Blake Perkins. The feeling of deja vu was strong following that inauspicious start, as to that point, the Nats had allowed 29 hits in the same span of getting 29 outs in this series.
The Brewers picked up another in the top of the second inning, with a run coming home to score on a ground ball double play off the bat of William Contreras. They got their last bit of damage against Irvin in the third inning, as Christian Yelich led off the frame with a solo homer, making it a 5-0 game.
The Nats drew a little bit closer in the bottom of that inning as Robert Hassell III continued his hot return to the majors with a two-run bomb to right field to lower the deficit to 5-2. Unfortunately, that would be all the runs the Nats could muster against Brandon Woodruff this afternoon, as he improved to 5-0 in his career against Washington with his six innings of one-hit ball.
- Brandon Woodruff: 6 innings, 1 hit, 2 runs (both earned), 1 walk, 8 strikeouts, 88 pitches
- Jake Irvin: 4 innings, 8 hits, 5 runs (all earned), 2 walks, 2 strikeouts, 75 pitches
It feels sort of like beating a dead horse, but I do think it’s worth noting just how bad the numbers are when you combine Irvin’s four-inning start today with Mitchell Parker‘s four-inning start last night. Combined, they covered eight innings, allowing 20 hits, 13 earned runs, only three walks, and striking out only five. If this is a glimpse of what we have in store for the rest of the season, I’d like to go ahead and apply for my MASN refund.
Shinnosuke Ogasawara replaced Irvin in the fifth and turned in one of his best major league appearances to this point, going three decent innings in relief, allowing only two runs to score. He did allow six base runners in that span, but unfortunately with this pitching staff, clean innings may be few and far between for the rest of this season so I’m perfectly fine with leaving it at three innings of two-run ball.
The issue this afternoon was the Nationals’ offense, sure the pitchers allowed eight runs on 15 hits which certainly isn’t good, but the Nats’ offense could only muster two hits of their own all afternoon. We are going to have to really curb our expectations the rest of the way this season, as it looks like the complete performances where you pitch, field, and hit well are going to be few and far between.
Miguel Cairo was ejected for the second time this week in this one, James Wood got a really tough deal from home plate umpire Chris Guccione today, getting punched out on a very clear ball in his second at-bat, and then getting called out on a check swing that clearly wasn’t a swing in his next one. Cairo took exception to the latter call and in between the sixth and seventh innings, was ejected by Guccione for standing up for his young left fielder.
The Brewers picked up their last two runs in the top of the eighth, the first coming on an RBI double by Brice Turang, and the second one on a sacrifice fly by Brandon Lockridge. That gave us a 7-2 score, which would end up being our final tally.
Positives in this one aren’t very extensive. I guess I’ll give Ogasawara props, he wasn’t lockdown or anything like that in his three innings, but I will give him credit for keeping this one somewhat close and giving the offense a chance to make it a game. Orlando Ribalta tossed a scoreless inning in his return from Triple-A, needing just ten pitches to do so. Offensively, the Nats mustered just two hits today, making it a pretty bad all around day for the hitters.
A key negative in this one was the number of in-zone pitches that were missed by the Nationals offense, and the quantity of defense plays not made. Yes, Brady House booted a ball for an error — but you had a grounder past Luis Garcia Jr., a grounder past Nathaniel Lowe, a misread on a liner by Daylen Lile, and quite a few balls that were not framed well by Riley Adams to a point that his mitt moved the ball out of the strike zone. That is all unacceptable.
This series will mercifully conclude tomorrow afternoon at 1:35. If you thought Woodruff was a tough matchup today, wait until you see Jacob Misiorowski (4-1, 2.70 ERA), the Brewers’ flame-throwing rookie sensation. His fastball regularly sits in the triple digits, with a slider in the mid to upper 90s. He will be quite a show to watch against the Nats tomorrow afternoon, who will throw their rookie right-hander Brad Lord (2-5, 3.27 ERA), coming off his gem last Monday night in Houston. It’s going to take quite an effort to salvage a game of this series tomorrow, but I will advise you guys to allow yourselves to just enjoy watching these two excellent rookies go back and forth.
