The Nationals finagled their rotation in an attempt to get Cade Cavalli another start before the appeal of his seven-game suspension is heard by MLB. When that move backfired, the majors’ most-beleaguered bullpen had to work overtime on a sweltering Sunday afternoon. And the end result wasn’t pretty.
Brad Lord gave up five runs in the top of the eighth, and Justin Lawrence gave up two more in the top of the ninth to turn a tie game into a blowout that handed the Pirates the weekend series between would-be NL wild-card contenders.
“It’s our job to cover innings, and I feel like we were doing it very well,” Lord said. “Everybody gave us quality innings today. It just sucks I made a few bad pitches and let the team down and gave up the game.”
Entrusted with a 4-4 game, Lord cruised through the seventh on 15 pitches. But when he returned for the eighth, the right-hander ran into all kinds of trouble, unable to put away five consecutive hitters despite reaching a two-strike count. Konnor Griffin’s bases-loaded single past a diving Luis García Jr. plated two runs. Brandon Lowe then tagged a 1-2 fastball for a three-run homer on Lord’s 50th pitch of the outing (his 35th of that inning).
“He just wasn’t able to put guys away when he was ahead in the count,” manager Blake Butera said. “But his second inning out there, he started to run out of some gas. The heat was real. We asked these guys to give us multiple innings out of the bullpen. It’s tough to do that normally, and it’s even harder to do that when it’s this hot.”
Pitching a day earlier than originally scheduled (but still on normal rest), Cavalli wasn’t anywhere close to as sharp as he was last time out at Fenway Park. He gave up three runs on a string of groundball hits in the second, then served up a homer to Bryan Reynolds to open the third. He remained in the game briefly after a visit from a trainer, but still departed before completing the third inning, his pitch count up to 63 and his velocity down a bit from its usual readings.
He admitted afterward he was feeling lightheaded on this humid, 92-degree afternoon.
“It was just a really weird feeling that I was having,” he said. “But it’s no excuse for how I threw the ball. I wanted to go out there and compete for my guys and not have the physical strain of how I was feeling affect anything.”
Eddy Yean impressed in relief of Cavalli, the rookie right-hander tossing two scoreless innings with an upper-90s fastball in his MLB debut. And then the Nationals lineup did its part to make up the early deficit.
Yet another home run from García – his career-high 19th of the season, 10 of those coming in his last 15 games – got them on the board in the third. They then took advantage of Bubba Chandler’s four walks (and some heads-up baserunning from Crews and James Wood) to plate two more runs and tie the game by the end of the fifth.
That still left four more innings for the Nationals bullpen to fill, a tough ask on this summer afternoon.
“It’s hot out there for everyone,” Lord said. “I don’t want to make excuses for anything. I’m just going to leave it at: I need to execute pitches better.”
PITCHING LOWLIGHT: The Nationals made the calculated decision to pitch Cavalli, moving him up a day from his normal turn in the rotation. The club’s day off after the Boston series allowed him to remain on a full four days’ rest, but he was coming off a career-high 100 pitches in his dominant performance against the Red Sox. And on a blazing hot D.C. afternoon, he clearly didn’t look like his usual self.
Cavalli’s fastball velocity dropped from 97.6 mph in the first inning to 96.1 mph in the second inning to 94.2 mph in the third inning. That prompted Butera and head athletic trainer Dale Gilbert to pay him a mound visit, making sure there wasn’t anything physically wrong. Cavalli remained in the game, but after walking the next batter, Butera was back to the mound to remove him.
“The heat just got to him,” Butera said. “He got pretty dehydrated out there, and just ran out of gas.”
Cavalli wound up charged with four runs (three earned) on six hits and two walks in only 2 1/3 innings. He threw 63 pitches. Maybe it was the weather. Maybe it was just a bad day. Whatever the case, the Nats’ decision to move him up to make this start didn’t look so great in the end.
“It was a weird thing,” Cavalli said. “I knew it was going to be hot. These last two or three days, I’ve been trying to prepare my body as best I can for it. Drinking a lot of fluids, the right kind of fluids. I don’t know why my body reacted the way it did to it.”
NOTABLE: Yean couldn’t have asked for much more out of his MLB debut. The 25-year-old reliever, promoted from Triple-A Rochester earlier in the day, was summoned to replace Cavalli in the third and proceeded to retire the first two batters he faced. He came back out for the fourth and pitched around a one-out walk to post another zero. And then he returned to face one more batter in the fourth, striking him out.
All told, Yean tossed two innings of scoreless, hitless ball on 28 pitches. His fastball averaged 98-99 mph, with his changeup averaging 89-90 mph. It went just about as well as he or the Nationals could have hoped.
“Huge congrats to Eddy on his debut today,” Butera said. “Such a great person, great teammate. Everybody in this organization loves Eddy. And he was outstanding, to pick us up in the spot he was in. Obviously didn’t plan on going to him in the third inning, but to come in there, get us out of a jam and then keep us in the game, I thought he looked great.”
The Nats did option Yean back to Triple-A after the game, a move that was needed to clear a roster spot for left-hander Matt Krook, who was claimed off waivers from the A’s on Saturday/
UP NEXT: The Astros come to town for a three-game interleague series. Miles Mikolas is listed as the Nats’ starter for Monday’s 6:45 p.m. game (pending possible opener or ruling on his appealed suspension) against right-hander Mike Burrows. TV: Nationals TV RADIO: 106.7 FM
So Yean goes back to Rochester after 2 lights-out innings of relief. Because Krook will be demonstrably better? They know that already? Sometimes it looks like the Nats punish success.
If this bullpen keeps bursting into flames, and I don’t mean just giving up a run or two, it is going to affect the morale of the team. It already seems to be affecting Butera’s decisions.
Right now, they have a dime holding up a dollar. The rest of this team is competitive. Could other areas be improved? Sure, but that’s true of almost every team outside of maybe the Dodgers or Braves, and even their fans would probably tell you they still have problems.
The Nationals have tried the waiver wire and minor league arms, and some of those pitchers may eventually turn into something. But learning how to pitch in the big leagues while your team is trying to stay in Wild Card contention is rarely done for a reason.
They need to make a decision now. Either go get another lefty and a real closer, or admit this is a development year. But don’t keep abusing certain arms because you’re halfway trying to compete and halfway trying to develop.
Middle relievers already have some of the shortest careers in baseball. Don’t turn a useful young arm into an innings eater just because the rest of the bullpen is gasoline.