My goal is to put into words what the Washington Nationals did in any given game. That’s what you do in a postgame report. This team has now rendered me unable to even do that. This four game stretch has put me in a spot I’ve never been in before, I’m speechless. I’ve been watching this team find ways to amaze us with how incompetent they can be for years but this is an all new low.
Forget the fact that we haven’t seen a win in seven days, this incredible excuse for a pitching staff has now allowed 54 runs in the span of four games. As if that wasn’t enough, how’s 80 hits sound in that same time span? For those not willing to do the mental math, that’s 13.5 runs and 20 hits allowed per game. These final scores looked like football scores in the first half of a game. For baseball, these are embarrassing blowouts.
I’d love to give some positives because that’s kind of my thing but all I’ve got for you guys is that we’ve only got 50 games to go. Okay, PJ Poulin had a nice MLB debut to hold those surging Athletics scoreless in his inning of work, and Clayton Beeter had an interesting Nats debut after he gave up a homer to his first batter. Can we chalk that up to nerves?
On the terrible side was Andry Lara in relief and his six runs, MacKenzie Gore and his eight runs to start the game after he only lasted 3.0 innings. Then on offense Daylen Lile went 0-5 with three strikeouts, and some bad routes again on defense. James Wood went hitless again, and didn’t hustle out a grounder. Josh Bell got a hit when the game was out of reach.
Props to Jackson Rutledge for striking everyone out in the 9th inning and the only 1-2-3 of the night. His best inning of his career.
The offensive star was Luis Garcia Jr. with three hits, two RBIs, and two runs scored. Garcia had a Web Gem defensive play set up as he went several feet past the second base bag but Nathaniel Lowe couldn’t glove the bounced throw.
Speaking of Lowe, all of a sudden he decided to work pitchers and set a personal record in his career with four walks in this game.
And Brady House had a nice offensive night knocking in the first run, and three runs altogether. But he ran into an out on the bases in a rookie mistake. His backhand defense wasn’t Gold Glove quality in this game on what we had come to expect from him.
To keep the good news going, Dylan Crews will be back soon-ish. He went 3-4 last night with an RBI. Let’s give you some other standouts in the Nats’ minor league system. At Single-A Fredericksburg, Angel Feliz went 2-4 with a grand slam. At High-A Wilmington, Jackson Kent pitched 6.0 scoreless innings of one-hit baseball. Oh, and catcher Caleb Lomavita put up a 3-5 night.
Again, the Major League portion is struggling and have now lost six straight games while putting up football scores. While all looks bad, some players are playing and hustling. Those are the players we should be talking up. The ones doing the little things. You hope there are some lineup changes to reflect the players not putting in the effort.
Ater the game, the Nationals announced that they optioned Andry Lara to Triple-A Rochester, and Nats interim-manager Miguel Cairo says that Cade Cavalli will be his starter tomorrow. This will be Cavalli’s 2nd career start, and his first since the end of the 2022 season due to his TJ surgery.
