Ladies and gentlemen, the Washington Nationals had a bullpen last night. And a great one, at that. Not to discredit Brad Lord, for his first 5.0 innings, he was tremendous. He just ran into trouble in the sixth, muddying his stat line for the night. Not sure why he was left out there to put four base runners on, of which three scored, in quick order. The offense wasn’t great, but they scored five runs, and did just enough against Mets’ starter Kodai Senga to get a big win, and evened this series at a game apiece.
It was the Nats’ bullpen, covering 3⅔ innings of scoreless 1-hit baseball, that saved this game from what was headed towards self-destruction. A job well done by Cole Henry, Shinnosuke Ogasawara (小笠原 慎之介), Clayton Beeter, and Jose A. Ferrer.
The game was scoreless heading into the bottom half of the third inning. The Nats did very little against Senga in the first couple of frames, but that all changed in the third. CJ Abrams got an opportunity to bat with the bases loaded and one out, and he did just enough, bringing home the first run of the game on an infield single to make it 1-0. Josh Bell then followed with a laser out to center field that was caught, but deep enough for Robert Hassell to score, making it 2-0 Nats.
Brad Lord was his usual dominant self early on in this one. The biggest note from his first four innings was that not only were they scoreless, but he struck out Juan Soto both times they faced off. That’s a huge boast for Brad, as he has shown all year that he’s not afraid of going right at the best hitters in an opposing team’s lineup, and that continued last night.
After Lord tossed a scoreless fourth, the offense went right back to work in the bottom of the inning. They added a run on a Dylan Crews RBI double, and he was immediately followed by Drew Millas, who tacked on another on an RBI triple. How many third-string catchers in the bigs have recorded RBI triples this season? My guess is its a club about as exclusive as can be.
The Mets got on the board in the top of the fifth on a solo homer by Brett Baty, who’s having a really nice series so far. Cedric Mullins followed with a single, but Lord got the next batter to complete five innings of one-run ball.
The Nats got their final run in the bottom half of the fifth. Josh Bell was seeing the ball really well last night against Senga, and he continued that, blasting a solo homer out to right field to make it 5-1. That home run would prove to be the difference in this game.
When Brad Lord was sent back out for the sixth inning, that was a decision I have no problem with, given that his pitch count was not very high. After he walks the first two hitters in the inning, that’s when you might want to consider pulling him. The Nats didn’t and though he did strike out the next guy, the Mets finally broke him, getting back-to-back doubles from Pete Alonso and Jeff McNeil, and just like that, we had a 5-4 score, and a mess for Cole Henry who entered the game and quickly endured a throwing error by Paul DeJong after Josh Bell couldn’t scoop what seemed like an easy scoop. No worries, Henry didn’t allow any runs to score.
- Kodai Senga: 5 innings, 6 hits, 5 runs (4 earned), 2 walks, 4 strikeouts, 84 pitches
- Brad Lord: 5.1 innings, 7 hits, 4 runs (4 earned), 2 walks, 4 strikeouts, 92 pitches
Both teams got outstanding nights from their bullpens, both starters exited in the sixth inning, although Senga was pulled after first sign of trouble after a bloop single. From there the game remained exactly where it was on the scoreboard at 5-4. Both teams also suffered through an inconsistent strike zone that eventually got Nats’ manager, Miguel Cairo, tossed from his third game of his tenure spanning less than two months. Cairo wasn’t wrong. Lord deserved better –and maybe Cairo was angry at himself for allowing his starter to fall apart on the mound in that sixth inning.
The Nats had an opportunity in the seventh with James Wood on second and one out, but could not come through with a run. That would be the only time in the final three innings that either team would have a man in scoring position. Tyler Rogers, Gregory Soto, and Reed Garrett threw three innings of one-hit ball for the Mets, and Cole Henry, Shinnosuke Ogasawara, Clayton Beeter, and Jose A. Ferrer turned in 3⅔ innings of one-hit ball out of our bullpen with their only hit coming off of a comebacker off Ferrer’s leg. Ferrer specifically, has really had a turnaround since being given the closer’s role, he’s shown his nerve, found some mental toughness, and been fantastic for the Nationals since being given the role that I, and plenty of others, were hoping he’d get when the season began.
Positives tonight were mainly the bullpen, those four relievers that I named above were fantastic tonight. Even Lord earned a shoutout because I’m not fully convinced he should have been in the game when the Mets finally got to him, he was dominant for the majority of his outing last night. Offensively, the Nats did not have any multi-hit performances but Josh Bell had a key line drive solo home run and hit the ball hard a few times, and James Wood, Daylen Lile, and Dylan Crews all reached base twice.
❝Every day I just want to come here and win — no matter what. … I want to bring this team to a new culture — and win every single day,❞
— Dylan Crews said after the game to MASN’s Dan Kolko
The series will conclude today with a 4:05 start time. MacKenzie Gore (5-12, 4.04 ERA) gets the start in yet another rubber game. It feels like every time the Nationals play a game with a series on the line, he’s the guy getting the ball. I don’t mean to say that like it’s a bad thing either, I want my ace on the bump for the biggest games, I just need him to perform like an ace. The Nats will face another lefty in Sean Manaea (1-1, 4.78 ERA), meaning we could see another janky starting lineup from Miguel Cairo this afternoon. That, combined with the fact that the Nationals have been abysmal against left handed pitching, will make this one a tough game to win, but a series win over these guys would be huge for morale both in and out of the clubhouse.
