(Not quite) Instant Analysis: Mariners 10, Nats 2

Zack Littell couldn't make it out of the second inning, and Bryce Miller dominated for Seattle as the Nationals fell back to the .500 mark

Photo by Billy Sabatini / ALL-PRO REELS

Blake Butera acknowledged this afternoon he was eager to find out how his team would bounce back from Wednesday’s late collapse in San Francisco. The answer: With a lopsided loss to Seattle that dropped the Nationals back to the .500 mark.

With Zack Littell unable to complete two innings while Bryce Miller cruised, the Nats were down early and never threatened to come back, dropping the opener of this weekend interleague series, the start of which was delayed 2 hours, 11 minutes by a storm cell that only dumped rain on the ballpark for about 20 minutes.

“The guys seemed pretty loose and confident and positive (on the heels of the 11-10 loss to the Giants),” Butera said. “Look, when you give up a five-spot in the second inning, it’s tough to bounce back from that.”

Littell was roughed up during an elongated top of the second that saw the Mariners score five runs and knock the Nationals starter from the game. Rookie Riley Cornelio was solid in long relief, but was hurt by one rough stretch in the fifth in which he gave up three runs to create an even larger deficit for his teammates.

The Nats lineup had no answers for Miller, who tossed eight innings with only four batters reaching base. James Wood got him for a solo homer in the fourth, and Dylan Crews launched a 440-foot homer to the picnic tables in left-center on a 3-0 pitch in the eighth, but those were the right-hander’s only mistakes on a night in which he could comfortably pitch with a big lead.

“He just has really good stuff,” Butera said of Miller. “He’s able to locate and command five different pitches, and he’s throwing 97 with good movement. He’s got like a 1.00 ERA in his outings this year, and there’s a reason. It’s really good stuff, and the ability to throw a bunch of different pitches for strikes.”

HITTING HIGHLIGHT: The Nationals did very little at the plate against Miller, but Wood certainly made the most of his fourth-inning at-bat. Having already led off the first with a single, he got himself into a favorable 3-1 count in the fourth and then launched the next pitch into the second deck above the right-field bullpen.

It wasn’t Wood’s classic, opposite-field swing, but this more-traditional swing produced his 19th homer of the season.

“I feel like I’m always comfortable with that,” he said of his ability to pull a ball in the air. “But I’m not really trying to hit the ball any sort of direction. I’m just trying to see the ball deep and put a barrel on it.”

PITCHING LOWLIGHT: While this dud of a start may have felt familiar for Littell, he really hadn’t experienced anything like this in more than a month. The veteran right-hander entered this game 6-0 with a 2.27 ERA and 0.953 WHIP over his last seven appearances. He did that by attacking the strike zone and keeping the ball in the park. And then that all fell apart tonight during a disastrous top of the second, even though he was still throwing strikes.

Littell gave up a two-run triple to Dominic Canzone on an 0-2 pitch, then a two-run homer to Colt Emerson on a 1-2 fastball.

“Honestly, tonight was just a weird night,” Littell said. “I thought I threw the ball fine. They had a really good plan. They executed it well. They forced me deeper into some counts. ... They did their job. That Canzone pitch was fully over the plate; it can’t happen. But other than that, I kind of executed my plan. They just beat me tonight.”

By that point, with his pitch count soaring, Butera felt like he had no choice but to pull his starter after a meager 1 2/3 innings. It put added strain on the bullpen. But given the way Littell was pitching, it felt like the necessary move.

“We tend to not want guys to get past about 35 (pitches) or so in an inning,” Butera said. “He was up to 43. So it was already past that point. Now you’re risking long-term health. I just didn’t feel comfortable keeping him out there.”

NOTABLE: The blowout loss did give the Nationals their first opportunity to see Cornelio in a long-relief role at the big-league level. And the rookie looked much better than in either of his two previous outings, facing the minimum over his first 2 1/3 innings while throwing 20-of-29 pitches for strikes.

Cornelio did falter in the top of the fifth, falling behind hitters and giving up a two-run single to Luke Raley to complete a three-run rally. But he finished strong, retiring the last four batters he faced and wound up throwing 46 of his 75 pitches for strikes across 4 1/3 innings.

“The message to him has been to attack the strike zone,” Butera said. “When he’s gotten in trouble, it’s been because he’s walked guys. He is 95-96-97, so when he’s in the zone, his stuff plays up more. We saw some pretty ugly swings at times from some pretty good hitters, and that just shows you how good the stuff is. That’s the message to Riley: When you’re throwing 96-98, you can attack the zone and maybe have some misses in the zone.”

Despite the positive nature of this appearance, the Nationals did option Cornelio back to Triple-A Rochester after tonight’s game. Given his high pitch count, he wouldn’t have been available to pitch again for four or five days, and the team will need a fresh arm out of the bullpen the rest of the weekend.

UP NEXT: Cade Cavalli will look to get the Nats back on track when he takes the mound Saturday at 4:05 p.m. Right-hander Luis Castillo starts for Seattle. TV: Nationals TV RADIO: 106.7 FM