The Washington Post - 22.08.2019

THURSDAY, AUGUST 22 , 2019. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ M2 D3

usually fun teams to be around.” There, by the third, were the elements of Washington’s well- worked winning formula: Corbin had a big lead. He kept it. He dominated the Pirates, finishing eight innings with 93 pitches, and lowered his season ERA to 3.17. The Nationals’ rotation has yet to allow a run in this series across 181 / 3 innings, and now Scherzer returns to face the Pirates on Thursday. That kind of stretch was expected, at least to some extent, when the front office decided to hitch its hopes to a group of arms. That’s the investment being re- turned. The surprise is just how explo- sive this offense has been lately. Slow games such as Tuesday’s are all but scheduled across a 162- game season. Putting together big innings regularly is a skill the Na- tionals are turning into a habit. That will come in handy down the stretch. The starters will falter, especially once the competition kicks up, and the bullpen can’t hide forever. [email protected]

Brian Dozier on paternity leave. Gomes later tacked on two runs with his second double of the night in the eighth, and Corbin brought him in with a double of his own. Adrián Sanchez and Trea Turner added RBI singles in the ninth. “It was one of those things, when a lineup like ours gets hot from top to bottom, even Pat got himself a knock today and drove in a run,” Gomes said. “Those are

HOW THEY SCORED NATIONALS THIRD Gomes walks. Corbin reaches on a fielder’s choice. Gomes to third. Turner reaches on a fielder’s choice. Corbin to second. Gomes out at home. Eaton doubles.Turner to third. Corbin scores. Rendon singles. Eaton scores. Turner scores. Soto walks. Rendon to second. Cabrera homers to center field. Soto scores. Rendon scores. Adams lines out. Robles flies out. Nationals 6, Pirates 0 NATIONALS EIGHTH Cabrera flies out. Adams doubles. Robles walks. Gomes doubles. Robles scores. Adams scores. Corbin doubles. Gomes scores. Turner lines out. Eaton walks. Rendon walks. Eaton to second. Corbin to third. Soto strikes out. Nationals 9, Pirates 0 NATIONALS NINTH Cabrera grounds out. Adams pops out. Robles walks.Gomes walks. Robles to second. Sanchez singles. Gomes to third. Robles scores. Turner singles. Sanchez to second. Gomes scores. Eaton flies out. Nationals 11, Pirates 0 PIRATES NINTH Reynolds singles. Marte flies out. Bell doubles. Reyn- olds scores. Osuna grounds out. Bell to third. Reyes grounds out. Nationals 11, Pirates 1

Nationals 11, Pirates 1 WASHINGTON ABR H BI BB SO AVG Turner ss ........................... 6 12 1 0 0 .295 Eaton rf.............................. 5 12 1 1 0 .291 Rendon 3b.......................... 4 12 2 1 0 .323 Rainey p ............................. 0 00 0 0 0 .000 Soto lf ................................ 4 10 0 1 2 .288 A.Cabrera 2b-3b ................ 5 11 3 0 1 .324 Adams 1b........................... 5 11 0 0 0 .246 Robles cf ............................ 3 20 0 2 0 .248 Gomes c ............................. 3 22 2 2 0 .216 Corbin p ............................. 4 11 1 0 0 .077 Sanchez ph-2b ................... 1 01 1 0 0 .241 TOTALS 40 11 12 11 7 3 — PITTSBURGH ABRH BI BB SO AVG Newman 2b.................... 4 0 0 0 0 0 .295 Reynolds lf ..................... 4 1 2 0 0 0 .325 Marte cf ......................... 3 0 0 0 1 0 .289 Bell 1b ............................ 3 0 1 1 1 1 .280 Osuna 3b-p..................... 4 0 0 0 0 1 .302 Reyes rf.......................... 4 0 0 0 0 0 .160 Stallings c ...................... 3 0 1 0 0 0 .267 Markel p ......................... 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 Liriano p ......................... 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.00 Moran 3b........................ 0 0 0 0 0 0 .283 González ss .................... 3 0 1 0 0 2 .200 Musgrove p .................... 1 0 0 0 0 0 .119 M.Cabrera ph ................. 1 0 0 0 0 0 .277 Agrazal p........................ 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 Díaz c.............................. 1 0 0 0 0 0 .247 TOTALS 31 1 5 1 2 4 — WASH.......................006 000 032 — 11 12 0 PITT. .........................000 000 001 — 15 2 E: Musgrove 2 (3). LOB: Washington 9, Pittsburgh 5. 2B: Eaton (21), Gomes 2 (11), Adams (14), Corbin (1), Bell (37). HR: A.Cabrera (2), off Musgrove. RBI: Eaton (40), Rendon 2 (100), A.Cabrera 3 (13), Gomes 2 (28), Corbin (3), Sanchez (1), Turner (42), Bell (99). DP: Washington 1 (A.Cabrera, Turner, Adams). WASH. IP H RER BBSO NP ERA Corbin .................... 8 3 0 0 2 4 93 3.17 Rainey..................... 1 2 1 1 0 0 13 4.13 PITTSBURGH IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA Osuna .........................1 1 0 0 0 0 7 0.00 Musgrove ...................5 7 6 5 2 1 84 4.74 Agrazal .......................2 0 0 0 0 1 23 4.09 Markel ........................2 3 3 3 3 0 33 9.82 Liriano ........................1 1 2 2 2 1 22 3.64 WP: Corbin (10-5); LP: Musgrove (8-12). Inherited runners-scored: Osuna 2-1, Liriano 3-0. T: 2:54. A: 10,577 (38,362).

close game every night. But their offense is capable of alleviating pressure with early separation. The past week has provided Exhib- it A, B, C and so on. Washington set one franchise record by scoring 43 runs in three games and another with 62 in five. That trend stopped Tuesday, if only briefly, when the Nationals scored just one run and wasted seven scoreless innings from Strasburg. The bullpen did its part by allowing four runs in the eighth. It was the law of averages passing through. “I mean... it’s just weird,” Mar- tinez said after the offense quickly cooled off Tuesday. “It’s baseball.” Yet the next rally was not too far behind. Pirates starter Joe Mus- grove got through two scoreless innings and had decent command before the offense heated up in the third. Yan Gomes led off with a walk, Corbin bunted and reached on a throwing error, and Eaton nudged the Nationals ahead with a double to right. Eaton has been scalding at the plate in August, with 11 extra-base hits, four home runs — including one in three straight games between Saturday and Monday — and now a hit to kick-start another lopsided win. Rendon followed with a two- run single, giving him 100 RBI on the year and tying a career high with more than five weeks left in the season. Then Cabrera blasted the three-run shot that broke the game wide open. The utility in- fielder joined the Nationals this month after he was designated for assignment by the Texas Rangers. He has since filled in at second base, clicked offensively and nearly hit three homers here Monday. He instead settled for one, along with a double and three RBI, and stayed on track Wednesday with

moment — has been to avoid high- leverage situations altogether. There will be time for those later. Plenty of it. But because they are still in Pittsburgh, facing one of the NL’s worst teams, that was again pushed to another day. A six-run third inning was the catalyst, high- lighted by an RBI double for Adam Eaton, a two-run single for Antho- ny Rendon and finally a three-run homer for Asdrúbal Cabrera. “When these guys all get on base and get on for the next guy, it’s like a chain reaction,” Manager Dave Martinez said. “It keeps going on, keeps going on, and all of a sudden you get that one big hit because we have guys on base.” Corbin took it from there, giving up just three hits, striking out four and retiring the last seven batters he faced. And the bullpen, having just blown the previous game in the eighth inning, had limited work and a chance to catch its breath, too. Tanner Rainey was the lone reliever to enter, and he allowed a run in a shaky ninth. Washington has never been shy about its identity. General Manag- er Mike Rizzo has stated over and over that he builds around the mound and fans out from there. When the team signed Corbin in December for six years and $140 million, it only added to the mounds of money already spent on the rotation. Max Scherzer is still in a seven-year deal worth $210 million. Stephen Strasburg’s 2017 extension was worth seven years and $175 million. Aníbal Sánchez, filling out the group, signed for two years and $19 million in December. That could all make it seem as if the Nationals are bracing for a

NATIONALS FROM D1

— that number fell to 5.52 innings per start, down to 10th in the majors. That’s just one or two outs per night. But I would argue those one or two outs shouldn’t be dismissed as irrelevant. The point: Would you want Scherzer trying to get those outs or fill-in- the-blank reliever? The answer is obvious. More than that: If Scherzer — or Strasburg or Corbin or Aníbal Sánchez — is pushing for those final outs to get through the seventh or (imagine) the eighth, then there’s a reliever who is not getting those outs who will be that much fresher the next time out. There could be some connective tissue between the ace’s return and the bullpen’s performance. That relationship, of course, isn’t guaranteed. Neither Suero nor Hudson, for instance, had pitched since Saturday before they imploded Tuesday. But the Nats’ nearly three- month surge, mostly accomplished without Scherzer, has provided reason for optimism. And the optimistic stance is that Scherzer’s return could have an impact on the days when he pitches — and the days when he doesn’t. [email protected]

For more by Barry Svrluga, visit washingtonpost.com/svrluga.

anybody — to record outs 22, 23 and 24. But we’re being optimistic here, right? And the optimistic take would be that Scherzer’s return can lessen the load on any and all of the above relievers, making them — individually and collectively — more effective. Can one starting pitcher really reset an entire bullpen? Well, consider that from the beginning of the season through July 6 — Scherzer’s final start before going on the IL for the first time — no team averaged more innings out of its starting pitchers than the Nats: 5.92 per outing. From July 7 through Tuesday — a period in which Scherzer pitched just once

themselves with a pitcher’s arsenal. Starters throw 80 and 90 and 100 pitches, making fatigue a factor. Just five years ago, reliever ERA (3.58) was at a low for this century and nearly a quarter of a run better than starter ERA. Now there’s not a contending team that wouldn’t take another reliable arm — or three. Which somehow brings us back to Scherzer. Doolittle’s return to form is, quite obviously, the most important aspect of Washington’s bullpen over the final 5^1 / 2 weeks of the season. It would help if Manager Dave Martinez felt comfortable with someone else — Hudson, Hunter Strickland, Suero, Tanner Rainey,

and a few others. But it’s hard. The reason: Relievers across both leagues are getting torched at nearly historic rates. Major league relievers are carrying a 4.55 ERA and a 4.55 fielding independent pitching (FIP) this season. Both are the highest marks since 2000, the heart of the Steroid Era. What’s more: This is the first time this century that the collective ERA of relievers is higher than the collective ERA of starters (4.52). Think about how unlikely that is. Starters have to face hitters a second and third time in an outing, giving hitters the advantage of familiarizing

want back. That’s the Scherzer they need back. Yet given the way Tuesday night’s game in Pittsburgh unfolded — seven spotless innings from Strasburg, one molotov cocktail of an eighth from Wander Suero and Daniel Hudson in what became a 4-1 loss — Scherzer’s ensuing performance seems less an issue than what happens with the bullpen. The most reliable character there, closer Sean Doolittle, is on the injured list after three multi-run meltdowns in a five-appearance stretch. Handed a 1-0 lead Tuesday, Suero faced three batters and retired none of them. Hudson, acquired in a deadline-day deal with Toronto, then allowed the three- run bomb to Starling Marte that sealed a difficult loss. Tomes have been written about how shaky (read: awful) Washington’s bullpen has been this season. (Update: In the past 50 years, only this year’s Baltimore Orioles and the 2007 Tampa Bay Rays have worse reliever ERAs than the Nats’ 6.08 through Tuesday’s games.) But there’s a context here that can get overlooked if we focus only on the (sometimes maddening) unit that plays on South Capitol Street. Look around baseball and find a team that’s happy with its bullpen. Yeah, fine, maybe Cleveland, Tampa Bay, Houston

rotation, Washington boasts the
pitchers ranked first (Scherzer),
third (Strasburg) and seventh
(Patrick Corbin) in the National
League in wins above
replacement for pitchers,
according to FanGraphs. That’s
the trio that makes a Nationals
appearance in October possible.
That’s the trio that makes a
playoff stay that lasts longer than
the division series possible.
(Note: I’m aware of the Nats’
history in October. These aren’t
predictions. They’re possibilities.)
Remember who Scherzer was
before he twice went on the
injured list with back problems,
and that’s the very best version of
who Scherzer can be, which is
saying something. In nine starts
between May 22 and July 6, he
posted a 0.84 ERA. He struck out
94 men and walked nine. He
allowed hitters a .172 average and
a .476 on-base-plus-slugging
percentage, teeny, tiny numbers
best viewed with a microscope.
How dominant is that? The lowest
OPS of any hitter with enough
plate appearances to qualify for
the batting title is .635. For those
nine starts, Scherzer turned all of
baseball into the worst big league
hitter on the planet.
With the Nats atop the wild-
card race heading into a crucial
weekend series with the Cubs in
Chicago, that’s the Scherzer they

SVRLUGA FROM D1

Corbin shines and o≠ense roars in rout

BARRY SVRLUGA

Nationals hope Scherzer’s return will benefit what has been a struggling bullpen

Excerpted from washingtonpost.com/nationals

Strickland describes weight room accident

Washington Nationals reliever Hunter Strickland detailed Wednesday how he wound up with a broken nose during a weightlifting session the day before. Strickland, who sported small cuts on his nose and some swelling around his right eye, assured assembled reporters that he is good to go, with the injury having been determined a “clean break” by doctors. “The squat rack has the bar on the rack, obviously, and above that we have a red chord that is used for hip mobility stuff,” said Strickland, one of the three relievers acquired by Washington at the trade deadline. “So I pulled the chord in front of the bar so this wouldn’t happen — obviously it didn’t go very well — and when I sat down to do the hip stuff, I went to reach up and grab the chord, but I guess one of the ropes still got hung behind it. And when I grabbed it, I guess my weight pulled the bar off and crushed me. “I’m still cleared to play, so that’s what matters,” he continued. “It could have been a lot worse. I just found the positive with it and move forward.” There is no further risk in pitching, Strickland said, if he is comfortable breathing out of his nose. Strickland was available to pitch in a 4-1 loss to the Pirates on Tuesday but was not used.

Carpenter takes leave Bob Carpenter, the television voice of the Nationals, will miss the rest of the team’s road trip after Wednesday night’s game in Pittsburgh. Carpenter will head home to be with his wife, Debbie, who will undergo surgery Friday to remove a tumor in her lower right leg. The Carpenters believe the tumor is not malignant, and Bob Carpenter said he could be back in the booth by next week. Dave Jageler, who typically calls games on 106.7 the Fan, will fill in on MASN with color analyst F.P. Santangelo and field reporter Alex Chappell. Pete Medhurst will fill in for Jageler on the Fan alongside Charlie Slowes. The Nationals have their series finale in Pittsburgh on Thursday, then head to Chicago for three games against the Cubs. Debbie Carpenter has been dealing with the tumor since around the all-star break, and Bob Carpenter has been balancing the busy broadcast schedule with her appointments. He expressed gratitude toward the organization and TV network for how understanding they have been the past five or so weeks. “The Nationals and MASN have been great,” Carpenter said at PNC Park on Wednesday. “They’ve both told me, ‘Whatever time you need.’ ” — Jesse Dougherty

NATIONALS NOTES

NATIONALS ON DECK at Pittsburgh Pirates Today 7:05 MASN

at Chicago Cubs Tomorrow 2:20 MASN Saturday 2:20 MASN Sunday 2:20 MASN

vs. Baltimore Orioles Tuesday 7:05 MASN, MASN 2 Wednesday 7:05 MASN, MASN 2

Radio: WJFK (106.7 FM)

baseball

BY PETER SCHMUCK

baltimore — The ball was
flying out of Camden Yards again
Wednesday night, and this time
it was the Baltimore Orioles who
were providing most of the mete-
or shower.
They hit four homers and
trounced the Kansas City Royals,
8-1, before an announced crowd
of 9,872 to win their first series
since they took three of four
from the Los Angeles Angels on
the road in late July.
Of course, there had to be a
flip side during this evening of
offensive largesse. The Royals
only hit one home run, but it was
that fourth-inning solo shot by
second baseman Whit Merrifield
that gave the O’s a share of the
dubious major league record for
home runs allowed in a season.
No. 258 was given up by
right-handed starter Aaron
Brooks, who was in the process
of delivering his best start since
joining the Orioles’ rotation.
Brooks went on to record his first
victory since he beat the Orioles
as a member of the Oakland
Athletics on April 11.
He pitched five innings and
allowed just that one run on
seven hits but left with the game
still much in doubt. The Orioles
had taken the lead with a three-
run second-inning rally that fea-
tured a two-run homer by Jona-
than Villar, but they didn’t really
break out until Brooks had com-
pleted the fifth.
With one out in the bottom of
that inning, Anthony Santander
and Renato Núñez hit back-to-
back home runs off Royals left-
hander Mike Montgomery to
give the Orioles a 5-1 lead. Hans-
er Alberto delivered the finishing
touch to a rare blowout with a
three-run homer off left-hander
Tim Hill in the sixth.
It was Alberto’s ninth home
run of the year and his second
three-run Earl Weaver special in
as many nights. His big fly
Tuesday night carried rookie
Hunter Harvey to his first major
league victory. This one extended
his hitting streak to a career-high
10 games.
Santander’s home run was his
12th and Núñez’s was his 28th,
just one behind team leader Trey
Mancini. Villar hit No. 17 and —
like Núñez, Stevie Wilkerson and
Richie Martin — reached base
three times.
On a rare night when the
Orioles could have gotten by
with a less efficient performance
by the bullpen, three relievers
(Paul Fry, Shawn Armstrong and
Rick Bleier) threw hitless in-
nings.
— Baltimore Sun

O’s tie mark

for homers

allowed, hit

four in win

ORIOLES 8, ROYALS 1

KEITH SRAKOCIC/ASSOCIATED PRESS Adam Eaton slides home with a run in the third inning, an outcome confirmed by Juan Soto (22). The Nationals have won eight of 10.

KATHERINE FREY/THE WASHINGTON POST The Nationals’ Max Scherzer will make just his second start in nearly seven weeks Thursday night vs. the Pirates in Pittsburgh.

The Washington Post - 22.08.2019

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