Bullpen makes mess of 7th en route to 8-2 loss (updated)

ANAHEIM, Calif. – Friday night’s wacky win over the Angels may have seen the Nationals explode for 15 runs, their best offensive output in four years, but it also came at a cost. When Jake Irvin couldn’t contain Los Angeles’ offense, Davey Martinez had to lean hard on two of his few trusted relievers in order to close out an eventual 15-9 win.

Brad Lord and Jose A. Ferrer got the job done, but each was pushed to record more than three outs, with Lord totaling 36 pitches. Which left both guys unavailable tonight when the second game of the series reached the bottom of the seventh with the Nats clinging to a 2-1 lead.

Michael Soroka had already completed six innings for only the fourth time this season. And Martinez wasn’t about to send his starter back out there for the seventh for the first time. So the game fell into the hands of Zach Brzykcy. And when Brzykcy faltered, Eduardo Salazar. And when Salazar faltered, Ryan Loutos.

The end result wasn’t pretty.

The three right-handers combined to allow six runs during a nightmare inning that turned a tight, low-scoring ballgame into an 8-2 rout by the Angels, spoiling the 162nd game of James Wood’s career. With a chance to clinch their first series win in eight tries, the Nats now find themselves needing to win Sunday’s finale in order to pull that off.

"That's what we had today for our bullpen," Martinez said.

A game that initially bore zero resemblance to Friday night’s wild affair was knotted at 1-1 through six innings, with both Soroka and Kyle Hendricks pitching effectively before handing it over to their respective bullpens.

The Nationals would briefly take the lead when Riley Adams singled up the middle to complete his second consecutive two-hit night, bringing Daylen Lile home from second. But then the bullpen gate swung open and everything fell apart.

Brzykcy immediately served up a leadoff homer to Mike Trout to tie the game. He would then surrender two more hits without recording an out, forcing Martinez from the dugout to summon Salazar to try to clean up the mess.

"It's tough. They've been throwing a lot," Brzykcy said of his bullpen mates. "We try to pick up guys where we can. Some days it's tough."

Salazar, who entered with an 8.17 ERA and 2.211 WHIP, nearly did it. With runners on the corners and nobody out, he retired the first two batters he faced and got to a 1-2 count against No. 8 hitter Christian Moore. But Moore managed to get on top of a 95-mph fastball above the strike zone, where Salazar wanted it, and sent an RBI single to left to give the Angels the lead.

"Those are the pitches that I was supposed to throw," Salazar said, via interpreter Mauricio Ortiz. "It was in the report, and (Moore) made the adjustment and got the hit."

Moments later, Kevin Newman (owner of a .410 OPS and zero homers in 82 plate appearances this year) blasted a three-run shot down the left field line to blow the game open. Salazar would depart after two more batters reached, then Loutos would pour more gasoline on the fire with back-to-back walks to begin his appearance, the second of which forced home the Angels’ sixth run of the inning. Jackson Rutledge would serve up a tack-on homer to Gustavo Campero in the eighth.

"It's going to be a learning process for those guys," Martinez said. "Brzykcy has been throwing the ball well. Salazar the last couple outings threw the ball really well against some really good hitters. Today, we were one pitch away from getting out of that inning, and it just didn't happen. But these guys have to pitch. I say it all the time: We've got some guys down there that pitch high leverage. They can't pitch every day."

That the Nationals scored 15 runs 24 hours earlier really meant nothing entering this game. We’ve already seen how erratic this lineup can be from night to night this season. And they were facing a far different opposing starter tonight than they did Friday.

José Soriano’s fastball averages 97 mph, and the Nats generally have fared better against hard fastball throwers than anyone else this year. Hence, the 15-run explosion. Hendricks, on the other hand, can’t even reach 90 mph with his sinker, and his bread-and-butter changeup doesn’t always reach 80 mph.

The Nationals often have struggled with that type of pitcher, so it couldn’t have come as a huge surprise when Hendricks cruised through the lineup twice without surrendering a run. There was some loud contact, and the Nats actually did a decent job hitting those sinkers and changeups in the air instead of on the ground. But they only had four singles to show for it through four scoreless innings.

Like his counterpart in the visitors’ dugout, Angels interim manager Ray Montgomery had to decide whether to let his starter face the top of the lineup a third time. He opted to do it, and wouldn’t you know what happened next: CJ Abrams belted a first-pitch, 86-mph sinker to left-center for his 12th homer of the season and the Nationals’ first (and only) run of the night off Hendricks.

"CJ made some adjustments; big home run to center field," Martinez said. "But (Hendricks) is so good at what he does. He's just a crafty righty, lives off the edges, changes speeds. I've seen him do that for many, many years. And he's really good at it."

Abrams’ blast tied the game 1-1, the Angels having plated their run way back in the bottom of the second when Soroka put runners on the corners, thus putting the lead runner in position to score despite a 6-4-3 double play grounder. That was the closest the right-hander ever came to faltering in this game.

Much as he did six days ago at Dodger Stadium, Soroka mowed down Los Angeles’ lineup for five innings. To that point, the Angels managed only one hit, one walk and one hit batter. Soroka had retired seven in a row, his pitch count a modest 78.

"I've said all year I think I just had to keep making pitches, and eventually find a rhythm and get on a roll," the right-hander said. "I think sometimes baseball's a crazy game. Sometimes the balls get hit to guys, sometimes they don't. It's just a matter of keep making good pitches. And I felt like in the sixth inning, I did that today and got rewarded for it. It was good to feel that, and hopefully more to come."

Soroka’s sixth inning struggles are too well known; he entered tonight with a preposterous 22.85 ERA in the sixth, compared to 3.49 in innings one through five. It all fell apart for Soroka in the bottom of the sixth at Dodger Stadium. Would Martinez give him the chance to retake the mound at Angel Stadium?

Yes, he would. And Soroka would respond with another zero, keeping the game tied at 1-1 after six. There was no consideration to sending him back out for the seventh.

"No, he left it all out there in the sixth inning," Martinez said. "We tried to get him through the sixth inning, and he got through it, and it was awesome."

If only the game's final three innings could be considered "awesome" as well.