The Nationals needed improvements all across the board to snap their three-game losing streak. Following last night’s 10-0 blowout loss to the Cardinals in the series opener, they needed better pitching and better offense.
Unfortunately, they got neither in their fourth straight loss, this one by a score of 4-2 with frustration mounting on an otherwise lovely 72-degree spring day in the District.
Recently, it had been the sixth inning that has buried the Nationals, with their opponents scoring a combined 18 runs in that frame over the last 11 games. But today, their woes came around much earlier.
After a perfect first inning on 12 pitches, Trevor Williams labored through a 35-pitch second that resulted in the Cardinals jumping out to an early 4-0 lead.
With one out, the right-hander, who was looking to right his own ship, hit a batter and issued a walk. A forceout at second put runners on the corners, but with only one out needed to get out of the inning.
Williams proceeded to give up three straight run-scoring hits – two singles and a two-run double – to put his team in an early hole.
Although he came back for a shutdown third, Williams’ pitch count was already at 63 through the first three innings. But the veteran buckled down and was able to gut out three more frames, keeping the Cardinals from scoring any more runs.
It was the third straight start Williams has surrendered four or more runs, raising his ERA to 5.88. But it was also the first time he has completed six innings since April 20 last year against the Astros.
With Williams keeping the game from spiraling out of control in the second, one would think the Nats would have plenty of chances to mount another late-inning rally, especially since they weren’t able to get one going against old friend Erick Fedde on Friday night.
But the Nats’ struggles at the plate carried over to this afternoon against Andre Pallante, a 26-year-old right-hander who entered the day with a 4.75 ERA overall and a 5.66 ERA on the road.
To say they were all bad at-bats by the Nationals wouldn’t be fair. In all honesty, they ran into some bad luck frequently today.
By this humble beat reporter’s count, the Cardinals made five impressive defensive plays to rob the Nationals of baserunners, all through the third inning. Three of them had expected batting averages that surely made the respective hitters pull some hair out: .890 for Nathaniel Lowe, .710 for Dylan Crews and .660 for CJ Abrams.
With Pallante’s pitch count relatively low and the Nats having only three baserunners against him (all via singles) entering the eighth, the Cardinals starter got within five outs of repeating Fedde’s feat from last night. That was until Crews finally knocked him out of the game with a two-run home run with one out in the eighth.
The struggling outfielder turned on an inside slider and crushed it 105.1 mph off his bat and 393 feet to left field for his fifth homer of the year, finally giving the crowd of 37,796 something to cheer about.
CJ Abrams doubled and James Wood walked to keep the rally going, but Lowe grounded out to Nolan Arenado to end the eighth.
Even though the Nats loaded the bases in the ninth, the late momentum wasn't enough to score against Cardinals closer Ryan Helsley. The Nats will have to hope it will be tomorrow as they try to avoid the sweep.