Photos by Sol Tucker for TalkNats
Well, that was a much-needed breath of fresh air for Washington Nationals fans everywhere. The Nats brought home a 2-0 win over the Marlins yesterday to snap the eight-game losing streak, and in the process, could have found a new member of their starting rotation. Andrew Alvarez started on the bump in this one, making his major league debut along with his battery mate, CJ Stubbs, who was also making his debut. This was a combo that I’ll admit scared me. It turned out to be a brilliant move, as Alvarez gave us five scoreless innings, and Stubbs caught a shutout in his debut, the first time since 2019 that’s happened in the majors.
The only scoring in this one came in the bottom of the second inning. If anyone on this team has quit and given up on this season, all I know is it’s not Daylen Lile. An RBI triple by Lile, his fifth triple of the season, put the Nats ahead 1-0, and that lead was doubled by Andres Chaparro, who brought Lile home on a sacrifice fly.
In what was a refreshing difference from the current norm, the Nats not only grabbed the lead early on, but their starter took that lead and ran with it. Alvarez made it 4.1 innings before even surrendering his first hit. Miami put together one rally in this one, that came in the top of the fifth, when they put runners on the corners with two outs for Joey Weimer. Alvarez ran the count full before getting a foul tip on the ninth pitch of the at-bat, CJ Stubbs held onto it, and with a triumphant yell, Alvarez completed five scoreless in his debut.
- Lake Bachar: 2 innings, 2 hits, 2 runs (2 earned), 0 walks, 2 strikeouts, 39 pitches
- Andrew Alvarez: 5 innings, 1 hit, 0 runs, 2 walks, 4 strikeouts, 81 pitches
The Nationals’ bullpen has been just spectacular recently, and they continued it yesterday. They’ve gotten on a roll with guys being able to finish each inning they’re assigned, rather than Miguel Cairo having to go bring in a new guy just to get someone out of a jam. As simple as it sounds, the bullpen is getting it done, simply by limiting base runners. They are attacking hitters in the strike zone, getting quick contact, and doing a great job of not walking many. Clayton Beeter, Konnor Pilkington, Cole Henry, and Jose A. Ferrer all delivered scoreless innings in yesterday’s ballgame, which finished 2-0, the Nats’ pitchers combining to throw a two-hit shutout in game one of this series.
The main positives in this one are obviously the pitchers. Alvarez, Beeter, Pilkington, Henry, and Ferrer put the squad on their backs. Their performance was especially important when you see that the offense only came up with three hits in this game. Two of them were by Luis Garcia, who will be the Nats’ only positive from the offensive side of the ball. From a defensive standpoint, Brady House had a very nice game, but it was Stubbs who deserves the credit here, catching a two-hit shutout in his major league debut with excellent defense.
You never know about how one play can affect the game. The very first batter that Alvarez and Stubbs would face in this debut game was the speedy Xavier Edwards who hit a 55.2 mph swinging bunt that bounced about 35 feet away from homeplate. That could have been a disaster, but Stubbs got to the ball and threw a dart to first base just in time to get Edwards. From there, Alvarez and Stubbs were in control. The only hit given up was a 245 foot weak line drive that fell in for a single in front of James Wood.
Game two of this series will get underway tonight at 6:45, the Nats will send Cade Cavalli (1-1, 5.11 ERA) to the mound to hopefully bounce back from what was a disastrous start in New York last Wednesday. For the future of this team’s sake, I would really like to see Cade bounce back this evening because prior to last Wednesday, we were all convinced we found our next ace. While he may not have a higher ceiling than Gore, you can only have one staff ace, and you need four other quality starters if you want to compete, so being able to pencil in Cavalli as a quality guy going into next season would be huge. The Marlins will go with young Adam Mazur (0-1, 5.59 ERA), a former highly touted prospect that came over from San Diego in the Luis Arraez trade. This is certainly a winnable ballgame for the Nats, and one that would go a long ways towards improving our outlook for the coming seasons.
