The Washington Post - 19.09.2019

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 19 , 2019. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ M2 D5

pens if Soto hadn’t lost track of

the ball, if it had been h it a foot or

two in any direction, if the sun

hadn’t been resting in that exact

spot in that exact moment to

cause exactly what the Nationals

couldn’t afford. But the box score

will reflect only the damage

done.

[email protected]

comes down to the little stuff,”

Scherzer said, pointing the finger

at himself before Soto or anyone

else. “It doesn’t matter how good

the big stuff is. Everyone can

execute the big stuff at this point.

It comes down to the fine details.

That’s what kind of did me in

today.”

The crushing rally never hap-

second when Scherzer ripped a

single to shallow right with run-

ners on first and second and two

outs. Edman charged at full

speed, and third base coach Bob-

by Henley waved Victor Robles

around third. Edman, usually a

third baseman, was playing shal-

low with Scherzer at the plate.

Henley’s aggression, a hallmark

of his strategy coaching third,

was miscalculated, and Robles

was thrown out at home.

The Nationals taxed Wain-

wright in the seventh once Tr ea

Turner drove in Gomes with a

two-out double. But the 38-year-

old right-hander then got Adam

Eaton to fly out to deep right. He

was helped through the inning

because Hale let Scherzer hit for

himself with one out and a run-

ner on second. Hale said he

would have considered lifting

Scherzer if two runners were on.

But he still felt that, with a

climbing pitch count, Scherzer

was Washington’s best option for

the seventh.

Scherzer lasted just two more

outs — and gave up three more

Cardinals runs — once the inning

was extended and before he

walked off the field for good.

“That’s what happens when

you play playoff-quality teams. It

strategy of when and why to put
players on the injured list.
There’s a science to travel and
choice of road hotels. Then there
are the choices made throughout
each game — all magnified in a
September pennant race. Wash-
ington illustrated that by rolling
out Tuesday’s lineup again
Wednesday despite a quick night-
to-afternoon turnaround. That
meant pushing Howie Kendrick,
36 and on strict load manage-
ment this season, when the Na-
tionals normally wouldn’t. It
meant Yan Gomes catching for
the fourth straight day. It meant,
more than anything, that this
could be the approach moving
forward.
The Nationals also shuffled
their rotation to make sure both
Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg,
now bumped up from Sunday to
Saturday this coming weekend,
could be available for a potential
wild-card game Oct. 1. But first,
before any of that unfolds, the
Nationals gathered behind
Scherzer in St. Louis. This was
the ace’s sixth start since he came
off the injured list late last
month. He had been carefully
building his workload, one out-
ing at a time, but wasn’t on any
sort of limit Wednesday.
Then Scherzer carved through
the Cardinals’ order, mixing five
pitches, leaning on his fastball
and slider before throwing more
change-ups late. He retired 12 of
the first 13 batters he faced. But
that lone base runner, Edman,
proved consequential in the
third. Edman golfed a 1-2 cutter
into the Cardinals’ bullpen be-
yond the right field wall. Scherzer
settled down after and went back
to dominating for a couple of
innings before giving up a manu-
factured run in the fifth.
“I’m accountable for the pitch-
es I throw,” Scherzer said when
asked whether the score didn’t
reflect how sharp he was. “Today,
they put some good at-bats
against me.”
The Nationals wasted a signifi-
cant scoring opportunity against
starter Adam Wainwright in the

NATIONALS FROM D1

baseball

BY PETER SCHMUCK

baltimore — The Baltimore Ori-
oles have suffered some discour-
aging l osses over the course of this
painful season, but it’s hard to
imagine any of them comparing to
the carnage that took place
Wednesday night.
The Orioles busted out to a
six-run lead in the early innings
and seemed t o stave off a seventh-
inning comeback attempt by the
To ronto Blue Jays, only to suffer
another major bullpen implosion
on the way to a 11-10 loss before
what was left of an announced
crowd o f 9,066 at C amden Yards.
The Blue Jays came back from a
four-run deficit in the ninth in-
ning against right-hander Miguel
Castro, who allowed a dramatic
two-out grand slam to right field-
er Randal Grichuk as part of a

six-run meltdown that sabotaged

the young reliever’s late-season

resurgence.

It doesn’t get much worse than

that — or did it?

The Orioles actually came back

to score a run in the bottom of the

inning and had the potential t ying

and winning runs in scoring posi-

tion with one out, but the two

players w ho did most of the offen-

sive damage earlier in the game

could n ot get it done at t he end.

Jonathan Villar popped out

and Trey Mancini bounced out to

second base to end the game.

On the night after Manager

Brandon Hyde could not conceal

his disappointment with the

clumsy performance of his team

in Tuesday’s series opener, the Ori-

oles appeared to get the m essage.

They came back Wednesday

and looked like a completely dif-

ferent club, at least for the first

four innings.

If you hadn’t already noticed,

this is a young, rebuilding team

and consistency has been in short

supply. The Orioles depended en-

tirely on Mancini the night before

and spread the wealth all through

the lineup on the way to what

seemed certain to be their

50th victory.

Mancini was right in the mid-

dle of it again, delivering a two-

run double in the second inning

that accounted for his 89th and

90th RBI of the season, but the

Orioles’ offense w as already in full

swing by that time.

Anthony Santander, Rio Ruiz

and Austin Hays had rattled off

consecutive two-out doubles in

the first inning to score two runs

against Jays starter Clay Buch-

holz. Mancini’s second-inning

double gave Orioles starter Dylan

Bundy more breathing room, be-

fore Villar and Santander hom-

ered in the fourth to give the

Orioles a 7-1 lead.

It was Santander’s 19th homer

of the season, and it appeared to

portend a rare blowout, especially

after Bundy had shaken off some

early control problems to allow

just one run and strike out eight

over five innings. But in this sec-

ond straight season 100-plus loss-

es, things a re seldom that simple.

The Orioles would have to

sweat this one out as the bullpen

helped usher the Blue Jays back

into the game.

— Baltimore Sun

Bullpen implodes in ninth as O’s squander big lead

BLUE JAYS 11,

ORIOLES 10

BY DAVE SHEININ

new york — When onetime New

York Yankees ace Luis Severino

took the mound Tuesday night at

Yankee Stadium, his season statis-

tics — 0 -0, 0.00 ERA — stood stark

on the scoreboard, especially

when juxtaposed with the Yan-

kees’ record entering the game:

98-53. It was an incongruity — an

early April stat line and a mid-

September win-loss record — that

hinted both at something having

gone horribly wrong this season

for Severino and something hav-

ing gone remarkably right for the

2019 Yankees.

Both, o f course, are true.

Severino, the electric 25-year-

old right-hander with the hardest

fastball of any starter in the game,

had his 2019 debut pushed back

51 / 2 months by shoulder and lat

injuries. Meanwhile, the Yankees

bravely e ndured the l oss of Severi-

no and 29 of his teammates — they

set a record this year with 3 0 play-

ers landing on the injured list — t o

post what is, following their 8-0

win over the Los Angeles Angels

on Tuesday, the best record in the

major leagues.

Severino’s auspicious first out-

ing — four scoreless innings, with

a fastball that topped out at

99 mph — will be felt across the

American League postseason

landscape as the Yankees prepare

to enter what could be an epic

three-way battle with the Houston

Astros and Minnesota Twins in

October in which every additional

weapon could t ilt the outcome.

“It’s been a long road back, but

I’m here now,” Severino said. “I

think I can help my t eam.”

On Tuesday night, when Man-

ager Aaron Boone told Severino

after the fourth inning that he was

taking him out, Severino tried to

plead his case for more. “I’m not

done,” Severino recalled telling

Boone. “I’m good — one more

inning.”

It didn’t work, but the Yankees

— whose magic number for

clinching the AL East was reduced

to two by Tuesday night’s victory

— now have a scant two weeks to

determine how much they can

expect from Severino in October.

Whatever role they choose for

him in the upcoming postseason,

it almost certainly won’t be the

one Severino is used to — a front-

line starter looking to pitch deep

into a game.

For one thing, there probably

isn’t time to get Severino

stretched out to that point. And

for another, that job scarcely ex-

ists for the Yankees here at t he end

of 2019.

When the playoffs arrive f or the

Yankees — with Game 1 of the

division series slated for Oct. 4 —

Severino will be one of a half-doz-

en or so pitchers on their staff

whose precise roles have yet to be

determine, and which may be sub-

ject to alteration for the duration

of October, or as long as the Yan-

kees remain alive.

These are strange days in the

evolution of baseball’s pitching

roles. The first pitcher of a game is

often not a starter but an opener.

The next pitcher is just as likely to

be called a rover o r a piggyback as

a long or middle reliever. The

handy, time-honored dichotomy

between starters and relievers is

disintegrating. The final pitches

of the past two World Series were

thrown not by closers but by start-

ers — Houston’s Charlie Morton

and Boston’s C hris S ale — pressed

into relief.

Although many of these con-

cepts were invented by small-

market t eams driven by ingenuity

and efficiency, it is the Yankees —

with their $220 million payroll

and vast s tar power — who, on the

doorstep of October, are leading

the majors in rethinking the opti-

mal distribution of the 27 outs

that have been required for a vic-

tory since the beginning of time. It

is and will continue to be a fluid

concept.

“We’re trying to maximize per-

formance, right?” Boone asked

Tuesday. “So how do we do that?

Who’s available to us [in the bull-

pen]? And does it make sense to

[start] someone initially ahead of

a guy who’s going to give us [more

innings]? There’s a lot of things

that go into that. Sometimes

[plans] get altered day by day

based on [which] guys you’ve

used.”

Aside from presumed Game 1

starter James Paxton, a high-

strikeout lefty who is 9-0 with a

2.50 ERA since the start of August

while averaging six innings per

start, the Yankees’ October pitch-

ing probables are TBA, TBA and

TBA — and all of them are more

likely to last three or four innings

than six or seven. Some of them

could b e used in tandem with each

other — “piggybacking” — before

giving way to a deep and talented

bullpen for t he late innings.

Among the candidates to fill

these r oles:

l Nominal “starters” Masahiro

Ta naka, J.A. Happ, Domingo Ger-

mán and CC Sabathia, all of whom

have been hampered by injuries

and/or a dip in performance in the

season’s second half.

l Nominal “reliever” Chad

Green, who has made 14 “starts”

as an opener this season, some

lasting as long as two innings.

l And now that he is back,

healthy and apparently effective,

Severino.

Finding the proper combina-

tions g ame to game will bring i nto

play a calculus of lineup match-

ups, individualized rest schedules

and psychological evaluations —

not every longtime starter is capa-

ble of adapting to the differing

rhythms and pacing of a midgame

entrance.

“There’s probably guys we

wouldn’t do it with or entertain

it,” B oone said. “ Every starter w ho

has started their entire career, it

would be an adjustment going to

it. But it may also benefit them. So

who’s suited for it? That’s up for

debate.”

These being the 2019 Yankees, a

key player returning from injury

had to be counterbalanced by an-

other being lost to one. On Tues-

day night, moments after wrap-

ping up their victory in Severino’s

season debut, the team an-

nounced right-handed reliever

Dellin Betances suffered a partial-

ly torn Achilles’ tendon in a freak

incident Sunday in To ronto. Be-

tances, at his best a high-leverage

standout of the Yankees’ bullpen,

had rehabbed a shoulder injury

all year, only to return Sunday and

suffer the new injury. His 2019

totals: two-thirds of an inning,

two strikeouts.

On Wednesday, the Yankees

had designated hitter/left fielder

Giancarlo Stanton, among the

game’s most prolific sluggers,

back in their lineup, and beyond

that, catcher Gary Sánchez and

designated hitter Edwin Encar-

nación are working their way

back from m uscle strains.

Closing in on 100 wins, the

Yankees are hoping this October

ends with their first World Series

title since 2009 — a gap that may

be only a decade chronologically

but that, as measured by the

changing nature of pitching roles,

feels l ike an eternity.

In October 2009, across

15 games, Yankees starting pitch-

ers averaged better than six in-

nings per start, and in the Ameri-

can League Championship Series

win over the Angels, their starter

pitched into t he seventh inning in

all six games — with Sabathia,

then a 29-year-old ace, tossing

eight innings in both Games 1

and 4.

This October, it wouldn’t be a

surprise if no Yankees starter sees

the seventh inning. If the opti-

mum postseason pitching per-

formance in 2009 was eight domi-

nant innings from an ace, in 2019

it is four dominant innings each

from a pair of starters in piggy-

back tandem.

That’s baseball in the fall of

2019. The days of the indefatiga-
      ble postseason workhorse are
      gone. The days of openers and
      rovers and piggybacks, for better
      or worse, are here.
      [email protected]

Severino’s return gives

Yankees edge in October

JUSTIN LANE/EUROPEAN PRESSPHOTO AGENCY/SHUTTERSTOCK

Luis Severino may not be stretched out as a regular starter, but his

presence makes New York’s pitching staff even more imposing.

Nats fail to increase NL wild-card lead

PHOTOS BY DILIP VISHWANAT/GETTY IMAGES

Cardinals outfielder Dexter Fowler robs the Nationals’ Asdrúbal Cabrera of a possible three-run homer in the eighth inning in St. Louis.

NATIONALS ON DECK

at Miami Marlins

Tomorrow 7:10 MASN2

Saturday6:10 MASN2

Sunday1:10 MASN2

vs. Philadelphia Phillies

Monday7:05MASN

Tuesday1:05

7:05

MASN

Wednesday7:05 MASN

Sept. 26 4:05 MASN

vs. Cleveland Indians

Sept. 27 7:05 MASN2

Sept. 28 4:05 FS1, MASN2

Sept. 29 3:05 MASN2

Radio: WJFK (106.7 FM)

Cardinals 5, Nationals 1

WASHINGTON AB RHBI BB SO AVG

Turner ss.......................502 100.292

Eaton rf .........................401 000.279

Rendon 3b.....................300 011.330

Soto lf ...........................300 010.292

Kendrick 1b...................402 000.343

A.Cabrera 2b .................400 000.297

Robles cf .......................400 001.255

Gomes c.........................413 000.225

Scherzer p.....................301 001.185

Rainey p........................000 000.000

Zimmerman ph..............100 000.238

TOTALS3519 123—

ST. LOUIS AB RHBI BB SO AVG

Fowler cf-rf.....................4 01002 .248

Wong 2b..........................4 02001 .284

Goldschmidt 1b...............3 00012 .258

Ozuna lf..........................4 00002 .248

Carpenter 3b...................2 01000 .226

Bader pr-cf ......................2 10001 .210

Molina c ..........................3 00001 .264

DeJong ss.......................3 11101 .238

Edman rf-3b....................3 22201 .286

Wainwright p..................2 00001 .170

Wieters ph ......................1 11200 .220

Gallegos p.......................0 00000 .000

Miller p...........................0 00000 ---

C.Martinez p...................0 00000 .000

TOTALS3 158511 2—

WASH. .....................000 000 100 —1 90

ST. LOUIS ................001 010 30 X—58 2

E: Carpenter (8), Fowler (5). LOB: Washington 9, St.

Louis 3. 2B: Turner (32), Carpenter (19), DeJong (31).

HR: Edman (10), off Scherzer; Wieters (11), off Scher-

zer. RBI: Turner (48), Edman 2 (32), DeJong (75), Wi-

eters 2 (25). SB: Wong (24). CS: Wong (3).

DP: St. Louis 1 (DeJong, Wong, Goldschmidt).

WASH. IP HRER BB SO NP ERA

Scherzer................ 6.2 7550 11 109 2.81

Rainey................... 1.1 10011194 .36

ST. LOUIS IP HRER BB SO NP ERA

Wainwright............... 781013 97 3.83

Gallegos .................... 00001062 .10

Miller........................21 0000 10 3.99

C.Martinez ............. 1.1 00000162 .91

WP: Wainwright (13-9); LP: Scherzer (10-7); S: C.Mar-

tinez (21).

Gallegos pitched to 1 batters in the 8th

Inherited runners-scored: Miller 1-0, C.Martinez 2-0.

WP: Rainey.

T: 2:55. A: 37,669 (45,538).

HOW THEY SCORED

CARDINALS THIRD

DeJong strikes out swinging. Edman homers. Wain-

wright lines out. Fowler strikes out swinging.

Cardinals 1, Nationals 0

CARDINALS FIFTH

Carpenter doubles. Molina grounds out. Carpenter to

third. DeJong grounds out. Bader scores. Edman strikes

out swinging.

Cardinals 2, Nationals 0

NATIONALS SEVENTH

Robles called out on strikes. Gomes singles. Fielding

error by Fowler. Scherzer grounds out. Turner dou-

bles.Gomes scores. Eaton lines out.

Cardinals 2, Nationals 1

CARDINALS SEVENTH

Bader strikes out swinging. Molina pops out. DeJong

doubles. Edman singles. DeJong scores. Wieters hom-

ers. Edman scores. Fowler pops out.

Cardinals 5, Nationals 1

Victor Robles races toward home plate attempting to score in the

second inning, but the Cardinals’ Tommy Edman threw him out.

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