For the Nats big name players, today was a productive game. However, it did not come in a winning effort, with the Nats dropping this one 7-2. In a surprise to absolutely nobody, the bullpen could not hold down the fort. Cionel Perez and Gus Varland did not have it in a damaging 7th inning for the Nats.
The Nats were facing JR Ritchie, who was making his MLB debut. James Wood gave him quite the rude introduction by sending Ritchie’s first ever MLB pitch over the wall. The wide eyed 22 year old managed
to shake that off and cool off this red hot Nats offense though. Ritchie went 7 innings, only allowing two runs in an impressive performance.
This Nats offense has been elite so far, but even the best offenses have off nights. However, when the offense is not firing, they cannot lean on this pitching staff. So far this season, the Nats pitching staff has been disastrous, allowing the most runs in the league. Some games it is the starters, but today it was the bullpen.
The starting pitching was actually excellent today. Cade Cavalli had his best start of the young season, and arguably the best one of his career. While he only went five innings, he struck out a career high 10 hitters and did not walk anybody. It was a huge step forward for the 27 year old who has been up and down to start the season.
In this one it felt like Cavalli was going right after guys from the jump. He leaned heavily on his two fastballs and his curve in this one. It felt like Cavalli was getting back to the basics and pitching to his strengths. His velocity also looked really good, averaging over 97 on the four-seamer and touching 99.
He threw too many pitches over the heart of the plate in the fourth inning, which the Braves punished. Besides that, Cavalli was outstanding. He still needs to give the Nats more length, but a 4.01 ERA is not too shabby. If he throws the ball like he did today on a consistent basis, he will have a lot of success.
Speaking of success, CJ Abrams finally showed up again after a quiet homestand. In the bottom of the 4th, Abrams took young JR Ritchie yard to tie the game. He was in a 2/27 drought, but he responded in a big way today. Abrams can be prone to slumping, but I think this skid has more to do with bad luck than anything else.
Those two homers were all the offense the Nats could muster today though. It was an off game for this usually electric unit. They only had five hits, with four of them coming from Wood, Abrams and Daylen Lile. The supporting cast just did not get anything going today.
That theme also extended to the mound. It was a good start for the bullpen, with Richard Lovelady firing a scoreless inning. However, Cionel Perez and Gus Varland were off their game today for two different reasons.
Perez was not throwing enough strikes, while Varland was throwing pitches over the heart of the plate too often. That combination led to a four run inning for the Braves, which proved decisive. The Nats dropped to 11-15 and 3-10 at home.
They will hit the road to face a rebuilding White Sox team. This will be a good measuring stick series. If they can avoid throwing meatballs to Munetaka Murakami, I like our chances. However, Murakami has been on a roll lately and is a star rookie. The road has treated the Nats well so far this year and hopefully that continues.
