Inexperienced bullpen can't pass first big test
Five Nationals relievers weren't able to protect a 5-1 lead this afternoon in Philadelphia, handing their team its first gut-punch loss of the season
PHILADELPHIA – The feeling inside the Nationals clubhouse late this afternoon was simultaneously optimistic and downtrodden. Given the situation they’re in, a 3-3 opening week against two expected playoff contenders, with two of the losses coming by one run, was reason to feel hopeful.
And yet … oh, how close the Nat…
s were to heading home 4-2. Or, gulp, even 5-1. And that’s why they weren’t declaring any moral victories at the end of today’s 6-5, 10-inning loss to the Phillies.
“They’re pretty upset right now, which you like to see,” manager Blake Butera said in his office a few minutes removed from Justin Crawford’s walk-off single. “These guys are competitive. They like to win. You can hear how quiet it is in the clubhouse right now. There’s some guys who were pretty upset walking out of the dugout. It shows us they care. …
“These last two games are pretty frustrating. We thought we had all three this series.”
That’s not an exaggeration. The Nationals put themselves in position to sweep the Phillies. They dominated Monday night’s series opener, mashing 17 hits and getting quality pitching from Foster Griffin and Brad Lord en route to a 13-2 laugher. They were a few inches away from a ninth-inning rally Tuesday night, ultimately falling 3-2.
And they led today’s finale, 5-1, after Drew Millas drove in Jacob Young with a two-out single in the sixth and CJ Abrams clubbed a three-run homer with two outs in the seventh. All they needed to do was record nine outs before giving up four runs.
Easier said than done. A bullpen that for the most part impressed through the season’s first week finally crumbled this afternoon against a ferocious Philly lineup that felt like it was on the cusp of a breakout sooner rather than later.
“Those guys are really good for a reason,” Butera said. “They don’t chase. They make you come to them. And when you do, they do some damage.”
Some of the five relievers Butera sent to the mound over the final four innings today went after the Phillies’ big boppers and paid the price. Andre Granillo gave up a leadoff homer to J.T. Realmuto in the seventh. Cionel Pérez gave up a leadoff homer to Bryce Harper in the eighth.
Some of the relievers Butera entrusted did not go after those hitters and also paid the price. PJ Poulin was brought in specifically to face the two big lefties in the bottom of the ninth: Kyle Schwarber and Harper. He retired both as the opener Tuesday night. This time, he walked Schwarber on five pitches before getting Harper to pop up. The problem: Poulin now had to face a third batter, the right-handed Alec Bohm, and he proceeded to walk him as well.
“Just attack him more,” Poulin said of his matchup with Schwarber. “I think that’s what I did good yesterday, and in the past. Stay in the zone, stay in attack mode. I kind of lost it today.”
So now Butera had to decide whether to stick with Poulin or turn to Cole Henry in search of the final out against Edmundo Sosa. He chose Henry, then watched as the right-hander got ahead 0-2 with back-to-back fastballs up in the zone before leaving a sweeper over the plate that Sosa ripped just beyond a leaping Abrams at shortstop for the game-tying, two-run single.
“I jumped,” Abrams said, “and there was no shot.”
Henry returned to the mound for the bottom of the 10th, after the Nationals had failed to score their automatic runner, and immediately surrendered back-to-back singles to Realmuto and Crawford to leave the home team and crowd celebrating while the visitors trudged off the field.
“I was hoping it would be right at someone,” Henry said of the Crawford base hit. “In that situation, you’re just hoping for a quick lineout, maybe pick the guy off at third or something. But he put a good swing on it, and got it through. Good hit.”
We can parse through Butera’s late-game decisions and wonder if he was right to play the matchups or should’ve just stuck with one guy in search of the final outs. But we have to acknowledge the obvious here: The Nationals don’t have a single proven reliever on their staff.
Maybe Kyle Finnegan was less-than-elite as a closer, but he’d been there and done that enough times that you never worried about his ability to compose himself in big spots. Henry? Poulin? Beeter? They’re learning on the fly how this all works. None had truly been tested yet during this season’s first week, with Beeter’s save Sunday in Chicago coming with a three-run lead.
This was the first real test for this bullpen. As a group, it didn’t pass. That’s probably not surprising, given their own lack of experience and the quality of opponent they were facing.
The more important test that comes now: How they handle this situation the next time. Because there will be a next time.
“I think in the long term it can be good, right, to be in situations like that,” Poulin said. “Make everyone feel comfortable and knowing they can get it done. Hopefully, moving forward that will help us as a unit.”