The Nationals capped off a winless week and extended their losing streak to eight games with a 7-4 loss to the Rays this afternoon. Brad Lord followed up his worst career start with an even worse one this afternoon, going just three innings and allowing seven runs. It just feels like every game this week, and most of the season for that matter, has blended together, and not in a good way.
The Rays made it clear how this one was going to go in the top of the second inning, putting up a huge inning thanks to some serious control issues from Brad Lord. They jumped out front on an RBI single by Everson Pereira, then added to it on an RBI walk by Carson Williams, all culminating in the big blow of the game, a grand slam by Brandon Lowe. This outburst made it a 6-0 game very quickly, another laugher in what was a nightmare week for the Nats.
The Rays added one more off Lord in the third inning on a sacrifice fly by Everson Pereira, which made it a 7-0 ballgame. Thankfully, after Lord was pulled, the bullpen managed to put together six scoreless innings of one-hit ball to give the offense a chance to make it a ballgame, which they actually managed to do.
The Nats’ offense checked into the game in the bottom of the third, getting on the board on an RBI double by Jacob Young. That’s all they’d get until the fourth, when the offense would really make this one tighten up. The Nats got a run on an error by Junior Caminero, making it three consecutive base runners to start the inning. Unfortunately, the next two hitters were unable to reach. Brady House came up to the plate with two outs and saved the inning with a two-run single to make it a 7-4 score.
- Ian Seymour: 5 innings, 4 hits, 4 runs (1 earned), 1 walk, 8 strikeouts, 82 pitches
- Brad Lord: 3 innings, 5 hits, 7 runs (7 earned), 2 walks, 3 strikeouts, 62 pitches
As much offense as we had in the first four innings, as quickly as it started, it came to an end just as quickly. After the fourth inning, neither team got a runner past first base safely until the bottom of the ninth inning. Both bullpens put on a total show this afternoon, with the Rays getting four scoreless innings from the combination of Edwin Uceta, Mason Montgomery, and Pete Fairbanks. The Nationals got six scoreless innings of one-hit work from the combination of PJ Poulin, Clayton Beeter, Shinnosuke Ogasawara, Jose A. Ferrer, and Orlando Ribalta.
The Nats did attempt to mount a rally off Fairbanks in the ninth, getting a leadoff single from Dylan Crews. Luis Garcia struck out in a pinch-hitting appearance, but the big play of the inning was the next batter. Daylen Lile singled to right field and was caught getting too aggressive trying to extend it to a double, getting thrown out at second to effectively extinguish the Nats’ hopes of rallying to tie the game. Just a dumb time to make a baserunning mistake like that, his run was not the tying or go-ahead run, meaning there’s no reason to risk an out in that situation.
The positives this afternoon are primarily the five relievers I named above; those guys did an unbelievable job of keeping the Rays quiet and giving the offense a chance to come back. Unfortunately, it feels like they’ve been tasked with covering 5-6 innings almost every other day this summer, as the Nats’ rotation continues to be just abysmal. Daylen Lile and Brady House both put forth multi-hit performances for the Nationals this afternoon, but besides them, it was really a dry day for the order.
We’ve got a rare 1:05 start time on a Monday tomorrow afternoon, with it being Labor Day, the Nationals will host the Marlins in a midday clash. It does come with some intrigue, as we will get to see the Major League debut of left-hander Andrew Alvarez. With the Nats losing Mackenzie Gore for what could be the rest of the season, it’s time to take a look at what they have waiting in the weeds in Rochester. Alvarez is going to be the first guy to get his shot in September. The Marlins have not yet named a starter for tomorrow afternoon, but for us, the real story is in who’s getting the ball for the Nats.
