Postgamer #11: I think we’ve got a problem. Bullpen blows another game: A recap

Posted on April 7, 2026 by Ryan MacReynolds

It feels like Groundhog Day with this team, as just last season at this time, we were all up in arms about “this is the worst bullpen I’ve ever seen.” Well, folks, this one might be even worse. Cade Cavalli was far from his best self tonight, but the combination of four gutsy innings from him, plus some clutch power hitting from the offense, gave the Nationals a strong chance to win tonight and give themselves the series win after just two games. Unfortunately, yet again, the Nationals’ bullpen had something to say about that.

The Action

The Cardinals were the ones to jump onto the scoreboard immediately tonight, capitalizing on what was certainly a down night for Cade Cavalli’s command. The game started with an event that would be a theme tonight in most of the Cardinals’ productive offensive innings: a leadoff walk. JJ Weatherholt drew a walk to begin the game and would come around to score on a botched ground ball by the Nats’ infield. St. Louis would then go on to add another run in the inning, as the next batter, Nolan Gorman, singled home their second run.

To their credit, the Nats’ offense was able to respond immediately in the bottom of the inning, getting one of those runs back on an RBI single by Daylen Lile to cut the deficit in half and take us to the second inning down 2-1.

The score remained there into the bottom of the third, as Cavalli was able to settle in and find his stuff over the next couple of innings, and that set the stage for James Wood to continue his nuclear start to the week. Wood saw a steady diet of breaking pitches from the Cardinals’ starter Matthew Liberatore, and finally saw one he liked, then proceeded to belt a waist-high slider over the fence in left center to tie this game at 2, and make it two consecutive games with a home run for Wood.

Cavalli battled his way into the middle innings, clearly without his best stuff, but once again he was able to just use what he had to his advantage and stack up outs with it. We saw him do that last week in Philadelphia to great result, and while tonight wasn’t quite what last week’s start was, he kept the game knotted at two until he was lifted with two outs in the top of the fifth inning.

The Nats’ offense snatched the momentum of the game in the bottom of the fifth, highlighted by a really cool moment for the journeyman Curtis Mead. Mead has bounced around the league for a while, often back and forth between the big leagues and triple-A, but tonight he got the start against the lefty and made sure his manager didn’t regret it, mashing a fastball from Liberatore over the center field wall to put the Nats ahead 3-2. They would add on later in the inning with a nice two-out rally, culminating in an RBI single by CJ Abrams to double the lead and give the Nats a 4-2 lead heading into the sixth.

  • Matthew Liberatore: 5 innings, 9 hits, 4 runs (4 earned), 2 walks, 6 strikeouts, 92 pitches
  • Cade Cavalli: 4.2 innings, 4 hits, 2 runs (1 earned), 4 walks, 3 strikeouts, 94 pitches

The bullpen’s night began rather shakily in the sixth, with the Cardinals mounting runners on second and third with one out against Paxton Schultz in his Nationals’ debut. Blake Butera then went to PJ Poulin, who, after walking a batter to load the bases with two outs, struck out Wetherholt to escape the jam unharmed. The offense picked it right back up in the bottom half of the sixth; this time, it was Curtis Mead with a two-out RBI single to make it a 5-2 ballgame.

The first actual cracks in the bullpen’s armor tonight came in the seventh, albeit in a somewhat innocent way. Jordan Walker took Poulin deep to right center for just a solo homer, making it still a 5-3 game. Poulin would get the final out of that inning on a strikeout, and the Nationals took a two-run lead into the eighth.

Remember what I said earlier about leadoff walks? Welcome back to that parade! The top of the eighth began with a walk by Gus Varland, which seemed excusable enough after he retired the next two batters and got ahead in the count 1-2 to Nathan Church. That was until he grooved a slider down the middle, and Church walloped it into the Nats’ bullpen in right field to tie this game at 5. One strike from getting out of the inning unscathed. The heart-throbbing reality of being a Nationals fan.

Just to rub it in our faces, the Cardinals brought George Soriano in to pitch the bottom of the eighth. If that name sounds at all familiar, it’s likely because he was a National during spring training this year and was not selected for the big league squad. Now, given an opportunity to show Paul Toboni and company what he thought of that decision, all he did was pitch the next two innings six up and six down, with three strikeouts to take this game to extra innings tied at five.

One of my biggest pet peeves during the Dave Martinez era was the Nationals’ inability to win extra-inning games. That trend did not let up tonight. Cole Henry got the assignment in the top of the tenth, and on the second pitch of the inning, Thomas Saggese doubled in the gap in left center to give the Cardinals a 6-5 lead. That wouldn’t have been the worst thing in the world if that was all they’d get, the Nats would start the bottom of the inning with the tying run on second base and nobody out. That seemed increasingly likely after Henry retired the next two hitters, but then JJ Wetherholt struck again, this time with an RBI double that landed just out of the reach of Joey Weimer in right field, making it 7-5 St. Louis and providing that dagger insurance run.

The Cardinals brought on sinker baller Riley O’Brien to try to close the game out, and the inning began pretty optimistically for the Nats, as pinch-hitter Jorbit Vivas took a pitch off the leg to immediately put the tying run on base with nobody out. O’Brien would follow with a massive strikeout of CJ Abrams on three pitches, get Jacob Young to ground out (advancing the runners to second and third, though), and that brought Nasim Nunez to the plate with the chance to tie the game with a hit. The Nats did get one run during this at-bat, as a 1-2 sweeper got away from the catcher, allowing Daylen Lile to score and bring the Nationals just 90 feet from tying the game. Unfortunately, Nunez would swing and miss at the very next pitch, and the ballgame would end in a brutal 7-6 loss for Washington. The big killer tonight for the Nationals was the walks. The pitching staff combined for ten walks tonight, enough to average one per inning, and that’s just such a killer for a staff that already isn’t working with much margin for error. In fact, the leadoff walks were the real culprits tonight, as five of the Cardinals’ seven runs came during innings that began with a walk. And those five were all five of the runs scored in the first nine innings.

The Positives

Apart from Cavalli’s gutsy work tonight, it was a rough night for the pitching staff, as we’ve mentioned. The only scoreless work tonight came from Paxton Schultz, who accounted for three outs in his first game as a Nat, and Clayton Beeter, who tossed a scoreless ninth inning.

Offensively, the Nats had another double-digit hits night, amassing ten hits to go with another four walks. James Wood is slowly making his way towards a .200 batting average, bringing it up to .191 tonight after a 2-4 night where he reached base three times thanks to a walk. CJ Abrams also reached three times tonight, twice via the hit and once via the walk, but the top performer at the plate was Curtis Mead. Mead went 3-4 this evening, with a homer, 2 RBIs, and even threw in a stolen base. This is a guy who really could be a weapon in the lineup against lefties this whole year, really looking forward to seeing if the front office made a splash signing him.

What’s Next?

The rubber game of this series will get underway tomorrow afternoon at 4:05. In what needs to be a major bounce back start, Miles Mikolas (0-2, 14.46 ERA) will look to recover from what was an all-time clunker of a start in the home opener last Friday against his former team. He’ll be opposed by the young right-hander, Michael McGreevy (0-1, 2.53 ERA).

Down on the Farm

AAA-Rochester

AA-Harrisburg

High-A Wilmington

  • 8-6 win tonight at Hudson Valley in 11 innings
  • Robert Cranz: 2 innings, 1 hit, 0 runs, 0 walks, 4 strikeouts
  • Angel Feliz: 2-5, double, 2 stolen bases, RBI, walk
  • Ethan Petry: 1-3, 2 RBIs, 3 walks
  • Jorgelys Mota: 3-5, 2 RBIs, stolen base
  • Elijah Nunez: 2-4, triple, 2 RBIs, walk
  • Tomorrow: 6:35 game at Hudson Valley (Yoel Tejada pitching)

Low-A Fredericksburg

  • 9-4 win tonight at Hill City (4-0 night for the minor league clubs!)
  • Landon Harmon (Pro debut): 2.1 innings, 1 hit, 2 runs (1 earned), 3 walks, 3 strikeouts
  • Isaac Lyon: 3 innings, 2 hits, 1 run, 0 walks, 4 strikeouts
  • Jared Beck: 3 innings, 0 hits, 1 run, 4 walks, 5 strikeouts
  • Eli Willits: 0-2, 3 walks, 3 stolen bases
  • Ronny Cruz: 3-5, home run, triple, double, 4 RBIs
  • Gavin Fien: 1-5, double
  • Luke Dickerson: 2-4, double, stolen base, RBI
  • Nick Peoples: 1-4, home run, 4 RBIs
  • Tomorrow: 6:30 game at Hill City (Carson Fischer on the mound)

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