The Nats got into a bullpen battle with the Rays, and inevitably that did not end well. Tampa got three scoreless innings out of their bullpen, while Gus Varland and Orlando Ribalta both faltered for the Nats. The crushing blow came in the 7th, when Jonny DeLuca hit a 2-run homer off a hanging slider from Ribalta.
Overall, this was a very grindy series that was not overly memorable. The Rays just made a few more plays
than the Nats over the course of the 3 games. Tampa’s starters went deeper into games and put less pressure on the bullpen. That allowed guys like Bryan Baker and Kevin Kelly to be utilized to their fullest potential.
Right now, the Nats do not really have a Baker or a Kelly in the ‘pen. We have Brad Lord, but due to his role, he can only pitch once a series. As the Nats continue their build, Paul Toboni will have to find his versions of Kelly and Baker at the back of the bullpen.
You can do that in a number of ways. With Baker, the Rays picked him up in a relatively splashy trade with the O’s. We wrote about a few controllable bullpen arms the Nats could acquire, and those guys could be the Nationals version of Baker. Meanwhile, Kevin Kelly was a waiver claim that the Rays have developed. The Nats have had some success on the wire, but none of their guys have really hit the way Kelly has yet.
Offensively, the Nats had their moments, but like the rest of this series, they were not able to truly explode. They had their moments, including a big double by Dylan Crews. However, as has been the case for most of this season, this was a one step forward, two steps back game for Crews. He got that big double, but also struck out 3 times, including in the 9th inning.
For most of this weekend, the games were played on the Rays’ terms. It was more of a chess match rather than a back and forth brawl. Kevin Cash’s veteran Rays were able to make more plays in big spots than Butera’s young Nats.
The one Nats hitter who did have a big series was CJ Abrams, who needed to get hot after a few quiet weeks. For a third straight game Abrams hit a homer. However, all of his home runs were solo shots. Besides CJ, the top of the lineup was pretty quiet this weekend. James Wood did not do much this series, and Luis Garcia Jr. had a brutal game today.
Getting Abrams going before the Nats huge 4 game clash with the Phillies is massive. This upcoming series is one of the biggest the team has had in years. The Nats need to get at least a split here to show they are the real deal in this division.
In the past, the Phillies have bullied the Nats, but this team has shown so far this season that they are different. This week we will find out just how different they are. Will this be a passing of the torch or big brother beating up on his little bro? We will find out this week. It was a bummer to drop this Rays series, but it is not worth getting too worked up over.
