Anyone inside Nationals Park this afternoon who claimed to know what to expect from Cade Cavalli’s first major league start in nearly three years was guilty either of wishful thinking or doom-and-gloom soothsaying.
Truly, there was no way to know what would happen when the soon-to-be 27-year-old took the mound for the first time since Aug. 26, 2022, because every piece of evidence since then offered conflicting clues.
Between major elbow surgery, several setbacks in his rehab, several dominant starts and several ugly starts at Triple-A Rochester over the last three months that all added up to a 6.09 ERA, Cavalli’s road back to D.C. was anything but smooth. The Nationals gave him the ball tonight hoping for the best but acknowledging the worst was equally possible.
And then, lo and behold, the organization’s 2020 first-round pick went out there and pitched exactly as he and everyone else had long dreamed about at the sport’s highest level. With the best repertoire of pitches any of this team’s starters has displayed in some time, Cavalli tossed 4 1/3 scoreless innings during what wound up a 2-1, walk-off win for the Nationals over the Athletics.
CJ Abrams’ bottom-of-the-ninth RBI single to left scored Robert Hassell III, who was aggressively waved around third by Ricky Gutierrez and slid in ahead of an off-line throw by A’s left fielder Tyler Soderstrom. And the Nats celebrated for the first time in a week, having snapped a six-game losing streak in dramatic fashion.
Cavalli didn’t last quite long enough to qualify for the win, but he wouldn’t have been credited with one regardless because his counterpart, Jeffrey Springs, carried a perfect game into the sixth inning. Riley Adams finally put a stop to that nonsense with a leadoff homer to left, one that tied the game at 1-1 and matched Soderstrom’s solo homer off Konnor Pilkington from the top half of the inning.
The game remained knotted into the late innings, putting pressure on the Nationals’ massively struggling bullpen to pitch in a rare high-leverage situation. That group pulled through, with Cole Henry recording three outs, Shinnosuke Ogasawara recording four outs in a surprise setup appearance and Jose A. Ferrer making his first closer-like appearance in the ninth inning of a tie game.
Thanks to that unexpected performance, the Nats came up to bat in the bottom of the ninth with a chance to walk it off. And Robert Hassell III immediately ignited the rally with a double down the right field line off Michael Kelly, one that that popped out of Colby Thomas’ glove on a desperation diving attempt.
Jacob Young was unable to get three bunt attempts down, so that left Hassell at second base for Abrams. The leadoff man sent a soft liner to left, and Hassell seemed to get a late jump on the play. That didn’t stop Gutierrez from giving him the go signal, an aggressive move that paid off when Soderstrom’s throw came up short and to the left of the plate.
Cavalli’s 2022 debut came on a ridiculously muggy August evening in the nation’s capital, and he suffered as a result, sweating through his jersey and cap and losing his grip on the ball several times during a laborious, 4 1/3-inning start. How relieved must the right-hander have been, then, when he stepped onto the field tonight and experienced unseasonably lovely conditions (75 degrees, with a dew point of 63)?
Whether it was the weather or simply an ability to control the emotions swirling through his mind, Cavalli went right to work and set a positive tone for the outing. He retired the side in the top of the first on 13 pitches, striking out a pair and barely breaking a sweat in the process.
He kept it going throughout, ultimately retiring the first eight batters he faced before someone finally reached base (via a Paul DeJong error). There would be a few more baserunners along the way, but no damage of any real consequence. All three of the Athletics’ hits were mere singles. One batter reached via walk.
This was about more than the results, though. Cavalli wasn’t just getting guys out. He was doing it with elite stuff: a three-pitch repertoire that included a fastball that averaged 97 mph and topped out at 100 mph, a curveball that averaged 86 mph and a changeup that averaged 89 mph. From a pure “stuff” standpoint, this looked very much like peak Stephen Strasburg, a comparison that can’t be lightly made.
Cavalli used all three of those pitches to induce 19 whiffs off 52 total swings, and he notched at least one strikeout on each of them, totaling six altogether.
The only drawback to his night? An elevated pitch count that wasn’t really his fault. Two errors by Nationals infielders (DeJong, Abrams) added 10 pitches to the tally. And a 13-pitch battle by Gio Urshela in the top of the third drove up the total as well. That was enough to convince interim manager Miguel Cairo to walk to the mound with one out in the fifth and pull his starter after 88 pitches (59 of them strikes).
Cavalli walked back to the dugout to a big ovation from the crowd, tapped his heart and gestured toward the sky. Once he toweled off, he found rotation mate Jake Irvin waiting to give him an extended hug, surely proud of his fellow Oklahoma Sooner on this, his return to the major leagues.