The Washington Post - 29.08.2019

(Joyce) #1

D4 EZ M2 THE WASHINGTON POST.THURSDAY, AUGUST 29 , 2019


HOW THEY SCORED
NATIONALS FIRST
Turner strikes out swinging. Eaton hit by pitch. Rendon
doubles. Eaton to third. Soto triples. Rendon scores.
Parra scores. Cabrera singles. Soto scores. Suzuki hom-
ers. Cabrera scores. Dozier singles. Robles pops ou.
Scherzer strikes out swinging.
Nationals 5, Orioles 0
ORIOLES THIRD
Sisco pops out. Wojciechowski called out on strikes.
Villar singles. Santander doubles. Villar scores. Mancini
walks. Stewart strikes out swinging.
Nationals 5, Orioles 1
ORIOLES FIFTH
Sisco homers. Wilkerson pinch-hitting for
Wojciechowski. Wilkerson grounds out. Villar singles.
Santander singles. Villar to second. Mancini grounds
out. Santander out at second.
Nationals 5, Orioles 2
NATIONALS FIFTH
Parra grounds out. Rendon singles. Soto singles. Ren-
don to second. Cabrera doubles. Soto to third. Rendon
scores. Suzuki doubles. Cabrera scores. Soto scores.
Dozier walks. Robles strikes out swinging. Adams
pinch-hitting for Suero. Adams lines out.
Nationals 8, Orioles 2
ORIOLES SIXTH
Stewart walks. Peterson strikes out swinging. Ruiz
strikes out swinging. Davis homers. Stewart scores.
Sisco grounds out.
Nationals 8, Orioles 4

Nationals 8, Orioles 4
BALTIMORE ABRHBI BB SO AVG
Villar ss ................................. 512001 .277
Santander cf ......................... 402101 .288
Mancini rf.............................. 302010 .273
Stewart lf ............................. 310012 .262
Ynoa p................................... 000000 ---
Scott p................................... 000000 ---
Peterson 2b-lf....................... 400002 .206
Ruiz 3b .................................. 400004 .238
Davis 1b ................................ 411202 .175
Sisco c................................... 411100 .215
Wojciechowski p................... 100001 .000
Wilkerson ph......................... 100000 .220
Bleier p.................................. 000000 ---
Tate p.................................... 000000 ---
Alberto ph-2b........................ 201000 .317
TOTALS 35494213 —
WASHINGTON AB RHBI BB SO AVG
Turner ss........................500 001.298
Eaton rf ..........................000 000.288
Parra pr-rf ......................410 000.257
Rendon 3b ......................422 000.329
Soto lf ............................422 201.290
Cabrera 1b......................423 200.346
Suzuki c..........................412 400.268
Dozier 2b ........................303 010.236
Robles cf ........................401 001.251
Scherzer p......................100 001.174
Suero p...........................000 000.000
Adams ph .......................100 000.240
Rainey p.........................000 000.000
Guerra p.........................000 000.000
Rodney p........................000 000---
Kendrick ph ....................100 000.327
Hudson p........................000 000---
TOTALS 35 8138 14 —
BALTIMORE.................. 001 012 000 —4 91
WASHINGTON.............. 500 030 00X —813 0
E: Davis (4). LOB: Baltimore 6, Washington 6. 2B: San-
tander (18), Rendon (36), Cabrera (6), Suzuki (10). 3B:
Soto (5). HR: Sisco (7), off Scherzer; Davis (10), off
Rainey; Suzuki (14), off Wojciechowski. RBI: Santander
(40), Sisco (19), Davis 2 (34), Soto 2 (88), Cabrera 2
(18), Suzuki 4 (52). SB: Villar (29). S: Scherzer.
DP: Baltimore 2 (Mancini, Davis, Mancini; Villar, Alber-
to, Davis); Washington 1 (Rendon, Dozier, Cabrera).
BALTIMORE IPHRER BB SO NP ERA
Wojciechowski .............. 465503705 .12
Bleier ..............................1 43300136 .30
Tate .............................1.2 00011225 .91
Ynoa................................ 110000105 .93
Scott ............................... 120000212 1.6
WASHINGTON IPHRER BB SO NP ERA
Scherzer ...................... 4.1 62218892 .46
Suero ............................ .2 000005 4.60
Rainey............................. 112212204 .41
Guerra............................. 120001234 .85
Rodney............................ 100002173 .32
Hudson ........................... 100000161 .35
WP: Suero (5-7); LP: Wojciechowski (2-7).
Inherited runners-scored: Tate 1-0, Suero 2-0. HBP:
Wojciechowski (Eaton). WP: Rainey.
T: 3 :12. A: 2 5,174 (41,313).

“Sometimes you want to push
him to show some emotion,”
O’Connell added. “[You want
him] to show some of those
young guys in the huddle with
him that it’s okay for you to lead
that group. It’s okay for you to
lead by example.”
O’Connell pointed out that in
college, Haskins had players such
as wide receiver Terry McLaurin,
whom the Redskins drafted two
rounds after Haskins, to help
with leading his Ohio State team-
mates. In the NFL, O’Connell
said, the pressure will be on
Haskins to lead Washington him-
self. So much power is placed in
the quarterback’s hands, they
have no choice but to display it.
“It just has to happen, espe-
cially in a system like ours where
so much runs through the quar-
terback, both mentally and phys-
ically,” O’Connell said. “That’s all
part of the process for him. But
it’s [also] one little sliver that you
are talking about, and there are
50 others just like it. That’s just
the nature of what the reality is
right now.”
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season, when the playbook
changes with each week, depend-
ing on the opponent. But that
hasn’t been an issue.
“It’s a learning curve for any
quarterback,” Rattay said. “He’s
doing a good job. He wants to
learn. He’s eager to get better, and
that’s all I can ask for.”
In addition to retaining a lot of
the team’s playbook, Haskins has
mostly been able to stifle the
attention that has swirled a round
him as a first-round pick and
former star at one of the coun-
try’s top programs.
The team hasn’t put him in too
many high-profile situations,
limiting his interviews and put-
ting him in a competition with
Keenum and Colt McCoy, who are
more experienced players. These
things have kept him from being
the focus of the camp. Not that it
probably matters.
“He’s such an even-keel guy,
and I think that’s going to bode
well for him in his career, being
steady, never too high, never
being too low,” said O’Connell,
who was a backup to To m Brady
in New England.

Through offseason workouts
and the first weeks of training
camp, coaches watched Haskins
closely in meetings, looking to
see how much he retained from
the previous day. If they had to
reteach those lessons, it would
signal a problem for the regular

ence.
He has completed 22 of
41 passes for 305 yards and a
touchdown against two intercep-
tions. They aren’t spectacular
numbers but are mostly what his
coaches expect from someone in
his position.

and Rattay realized that Haskins
loves to compete — which, in the
end, is exactly what coaches want
from their quarterback, regard-
less of which plays aren’t going
right.
“Part of the problem is you
have to expose guys to some
struggles early on so that they
can see how hard of a position it’s
going to be,” offensive coordina-
tor Kevin O’Connell said at the
end of training camp. “It almost
ignites a work ethic and an
understanding of: ‘I better do
everything in my power to put
this offense in the best possible
position, and how do I do that?'
It’s being prepared every single
day.”
Haskins’s performances in
preseason games have been
mixed. He has made some spec-
tacular throws, such as a 55-yard
touchdown pass to Robert Davis
in the team’s second preseason
game or a perfectly placed 21-
yard toss to rookie wide receiver
Kelvin Harmon last week in At-
lanta. But he also has missed
high or long on several throws,
which still speaks to his inexperi-

build on his performance day
after day.”
Haskins is not yet ready to
start a regular season game.
Washington’s coaches are in
agreement about this. He did,
after all, start just one season in
college at Ohio State, and the
Redskins’ offense is a complicat-
ed one for newcomers to master.
Everyone has been patient with
him. Washington’s coaches also
seem happy with his steady de-
velopment.
One of the biggest things
coaches look for in young quar-
terbacks is enthusiasm. Is the
new player excited to learn? Is he
engaged in meetings, asking
questions and diligent in his
preparation?
As they got to know Haskins,
the Redskins’ coaches noticed he
quickly absorbed the playbook
and the skills they were teaching.
Early in camp, Tim Rattay, the
team’s new quarterback coach,
noticed Haskins seemed discour-
aged, and so he said: “Let’s pick it
up.” Haskins quickly responded,


HASKINS FROM D1


Redskins’ coaches pleased with Haskins’s progress, even if he’s not ready to start


game produced no serious dam-
age. X-rays of the area came back
negative. He’s sore, and the Na-
tionals will consider him day-to-
day.
The first created enough early
separation to afford ace Max
Scherzer wiggle room on a night
when he didn’t h ave his best stuff.
The veteran right-hander, in his
second start back from the in-
jured list, is still keeping the
throttle down on the mound and
stopping himself from making a
pitch that could reinjure h is back.
He departed with one out in the
fifth inning after 89 pitches, and
he walked to the dugout with his
head bowed despite the partial
standing ovation he received
from Nationals Park.
“Tonight was a good outing, to
be able to go back out there, get
the reps in, get the pitch count
up,” Scherzer said. “Hopefully, if I
can recover well, hopefully next
time out then that’s when we can
try and turn up the intensity on
all the pitches.”
The victory was bittersweet.
There was no joy in beating the
Orioles, owners of the second-
worst record in baseball (44-89),
and it only underscored the frus-
tration of not getting to the ma-
jors’ worst pitching staff in a 2-0
loss Tuesday. The Nationals, be-
cause of the defeat, squandered
their rare chance to gain ground
in a National League East race
that Martinez emphasized as cru-
cial.
“Let’s not make a mistake: We
want to win the division,” he said
before the game.
Martinez has played in deci-
sive Game 162s and one-game
playoffs. He understands the un-
predictability of single-elimina-
tion games, and maybe it seemed
top-of-mind Wednesday because
the man who probably would
take the ball should that situation
arise was on the mound.
Scherzer was limited again,
although he did look more like
himself. He surrendered some
hard-hit balls — a run-scoring
double to Anthony Santander in


NATIONALS FROM D1


the mound. Doesn’t matter
who’s in the lineup. They’re
prepared to pounce — as they
did with a five-run first
Wednesday.
When the book on this
Nationals’ season is completed,
the most astounding
accomplishment may not be
that they survived a 19-31 slog
to start the season. The most
astounding accomplishment
may be that they received a
total of nine innings from
Scherzer between July 6 and
Wednesday, and they somehow
managed to go 27-16 — nearly a
102-win pace.
“We stack up with any team
in baseball,” l efty Patrick
Corbin said. They think that,
fully loaded. And fully loaded
means a completely operational
Scherzer. It’s hard for a starting
pitcher, who plays but once
every five days, to be a team’s
tone-setter. Ye t almost since he
arrived before the 2015 season,
Scherzer has been just that for
the Nats.
“It’s just fun to play behind
him because of his intensity
and his love to compete,” s aid
right fielder Adam Eaton, who
exited Wednesday’s game after
being plunked on the knee with
a pitch. “We have to follow suit.
Not that we don’t usually, but
you invest yourself in his
energy. It’s like: ‘A ll right, here
we go. He’s pulling line. We’ve
got to do the same thing.’ As a
whole unit, the intensity just
has a little uptick.”
Which gets us to an odd
point in evaluating
Wednesday’s start and,
therefore, what kind of pitcher
the Nats might have the rest of
the way. Because Scherzer has
been babying his back, there
was reason to wonder — get
this — how hard he would go
after the Orioles. After his start
in Pittsburgh last week, just the
second time he had taken the
mound since July 6, he talked
about learning how to pitch
under control. He doubled
down on that theme
Wednesday.
“Learn how to pitch a little
throttled down,” Scherzer said,
“this might make me a better
pitcher later.”
(Note: Scherzer’s Cy Young
finishes the past six years have
been first, fifth, fifth, first, first
and second. He thinks hurting
his back will make him better?)
Back to Max: “Being able to
get guys out with location
instead of having the ability to
just rear back and just try to
blow somebody away,” Scherzer
said. “I mean, that works; don’t
get me wrong. But when I have
to hit spots and really locate
off-speed pitches the way I
want to, it forces me to be a
little bit better.”
In reality, what he’s
“learning” t o hold back only so
he can return to his old
stomping, grunting, snorting
self. The 96-mph heaters he
hurled Wednesday night show
it’s in there somewhere. The
Nats, rolling right along, have
another month to coax it out of
him. What was at stake
Wednesday night was more
than beating the Orioles. What
was at stake was getting a Cy
Young winner back to Cy Young
form, with no steps skipped
along the way.
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Fo r more by Barry Svrluga, visit
washingtonpost.com/svrluga.

determined about the
remainder of this season — how
closer Sean Doolittle will
perform when he returns from
the injured list, whether the
offense can continue to score
touchdowns every night,
whether they can — gasp —
catch the Atlanta Braves in the
National League East.
Ye t any formula that has the
Nationals not just reaching the
postseason but excelling once
they get there includes
something more than the
Scherzer who has pitched in
two games since coming off the
injured list with a back
problem. The formula
Wednesday night: 13 outs from
Scherzer, 14 outs from a bullpen
that has been beleaguered since
Opening Day. Note to the Nats,
not that they need it: This is
not a sustainable formula.
“Moving forward,” Manager
Dave Martinez said, “we need
Max to be Max.”
Keep in mind, though, this is
an ace essentially making rehab
starts at the major league level.
These are spring training
outings in the midst of a
pennant race. Scherzer usually
tends a garden with a
bulldozer. Right now, he needs
to be watered with a gentle
sprinkle, not a fire hose.
Seventy-one pitches in one
outing, four days of treatment
and rest, then 89 pitches the
next time.
“I know what’s at stake,”
Scherzer said. “I know I need to
get my back right.”
So, then, baby steps. The
encouraging aspects to
Scherzer’s Wednesday outing:
His velocity was back, 96 mph
on his fastball when he needed
it. In his 4^1 / 3 innings, he struck
out eight — an indication he
could finish hitters better than
in his four-inning, three-
strikeout start last week in
Pittsburgh. He jumped on the
Orioles early, striking out four
over his first two efficient
frames, retiring eight of the
first nine guys he faced. The
good stuff was in there, just not
over an entire game.
“A little better,” he said.
The concerning: by the fifth,
he was clearly laboring.
Scherzer considers it his
birthright to throw however
many pitches it takes — 1 00,
110, 120 even — on a given
night. But when Martinez came
to get him following a solo
homer and a pair of infield
singles in the fifth, he appeared
gassed. The best version of
Scherzer gives the bullpen a
night off. The current version of
Scherzer asks a great deal of the
bullpen.
“The pitch count was up
given that I was getting
through four and a third,”
Scherzer said. “To me that also
tells me I’m not able to just put
away guys the way I want, the
way I’m capable of. That’ll
come when I can turn up the
throttle a little bit. And so
hopefully I can recover and be
able to do that.”
Now the good part: Even
though there’s the pressure of a
pennant race, there’s still time
to get Scherzer right. What’s
more: even if Scherzer is
essential to any postseason
appearance, these Nats —
winners of 13 of their past 16 —
have shown they can figure out
a way. Doesn’t matter who’s on

SVRLUGA FROM D1

the third, a solo homer to Chance
Sisco in the fifth — but looked
closer to his pre-injury form than
he had last week in Pittsburgh.
Scherzer consistently hit 96 mph
on his fastball. He mixed in his
cutter, which had serious bite. He
struck out seven of the first 11
batters to reach 200 strikeouts in
his eighth consecutive season,
the second-longest streak in ma-
jor league history behind only
Hall of Famer To m Seaver (nine),
per Elias Sports.
“Pitches were a little bit more
crisp,” catcher Kurt Suzuki said.
“Obviously still pitching, still
ru nning top there a little bit, but
he’s getting better. I think he’s
feeling better.”
He did all of it despite remain-
ing restrained. Dialing back on
the field goes against the ultra-
competitive Scherzer’s genes, but
he understands that it’s neces-
sary.
“We’re at the point in the
season where there’s no room for
error. I cannot get hurt,” Scherzer
said. “That’s why I’m going out
there pitching under control. I’m
not going to put my body in
jeopardy. If I give up runs, so
what? I’m more focused on going
out there and pitching, making
my starts, throwing my pitches
and recovering.”
When Scherzer labored in the
fifth, Martinez went to the bull-
pen. Wander Suero escaped the
two-on, one-out jam with a dou-
ble play. Apart from the two-run
homer allowed by Ta nner Rainey
in the sixth, the bullpen was
effective. But the whole situation
served as an important reminder.
The starter advantage in a one-
game playoff lasts as long as the
starter does.
Martinez understands, in this
way, the importance of avoiding
single-elimination games alto-
gether. You do that by picking up
wins long before those decisive
games arrive, the ones that come
on cold nights in early April and
in the sticky dog days of summer.
They come in opportunities you
can’t miss and against the teams
you can’t afford to lose to. Some-
times it happens; no team is

perfect, but good ones don’t let it
happen again.
The Nationals did that
Wednesday. They locked down
and pounded Wojciechowski. In
the first inning, Asdrubal Cabre-
ra singled home Soto, absolving
his strikeout with the bases load-
ed and two outs in the eighth the
previous night. Suzuki mashed a
homer into the left field seats.
The Nationals batted around,
and though they broke through
again in the fifth with RBI dou-
bles from Cabrera and Suzuki,

they followed the template laid
out by the Orioles the night
before: Rough up the opposing
starter enough in the first to
build a lead that could last
th rough the ninth.
But the Atlanta Braves, up 5^1 / 2
games in the NL East, bounced
back from their Tuesday loss and
beat the To ronto Blue Jays. There
was no chance to gain ground for
the division. A single-elimination
game drew one day closer.
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Nationals get it done with their offense


BARRY SVRLUGA

For a change, Washington


is carrying its laboring ace


JOHN MCDONNELL/THE WASHINGTON POST

In his second start back from the injured list, Nationals starter Max Scherzer departed with one out in the fifth inning after 89 pitches.


JONATHAN NEWTON/THE WASHINGTON POST
Rookie quarterback Dwayne Haskins, left, will get a significant
amount of playing time in the fourth preseason game vs. the Ravens.

NATIONALS ON DECK


vs. Miami Marlins

Tomorrow 7:05 MASN2
Saturday7:05 MASN2

Sunday1:35 MASN2

vs. New York Mets

Monday 1:05 MASN

Tuesday7:05 MASN
Wednesday1:05 YouTube

at Atlanta Braves

Se pt. 5 7:20 MASN
Sept. 67 :20 MASN

Sept. 77 :20 MASN
Sept. 81 :20 MASN

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