The Washington Post - 07.09.2019

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 7 , 2019. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ M2 D5

runners on the corners in the sixth after Robles singled with two outs, but Yan Gomes hit a slow roller to second that fin- ished the threat. That ended Keuchel’s outing after six innings. The Nationals have yet to score in 13 innings against Braves starters this se- ries. The Braves stretched their lead in the seventh, when Don- aldson hit a two-run homer off Suero, and the insurance proved crucial after Zimmerman’s homer. Suero got ahead 0-2 to Freddie Freeman before giving up a single on a high cutter. Then he was ahead 1-2 to Donaldson and tried to spike a front-door curveball at Donaldson’s f eet. But he left i t up, about knee-high, and Donaldson hit it 408 feet. “His cutter was so good to- night,” Martinez said of Suero, who throws that pitch more than 70 percent of the time. “But he and Yan [Gomes] called and he threw it, and I know they were trying to bounce it there, 1-2, and it just didn’t get low enough.” Zimmerman put a dent in the deficit — a significant dent — but that was it. It didn’t set up a dramatic comeback in the ninth. It was all the offense could offer, and for a second straight night, the Nationals needed just a bit more. [email protected]

optimistic with the results,” Elías said Friday, through a team interpreter, when asked to compare his pain to the August injury. “As you saw last night, I walked off the field fine. Once I felt it, I kind of bent over a little bit, but the first time I injured it I almost had to be helped off the field with how bad it hurt. “But more than anything I’m just frustrated. I’m trying to help the team any way I can, to help us win, and I keep getting these little nagging injuries. But just have to stay positive.” Without Elías, the Nationals’ bullpen is down to one left- handed reliever in Sean Doolittle. Doolittle, typically the team’s closer, came off the injured list Sept. 1 and is working back to high-leverage spots. Martinez said Friday that Elías’s injury could push Doolittle into those situations sooner than expected. The Braves have Freddie Freeman, one of baseball’s most feared lefties, and Washington has limited options to match up with him. Doolittle is one. Another is Wander Suero, a right- hander with good reverse splits and a cutter that rides in on lefties. But Martinez really just needs Elías healthy for the stretch run of this season. The team traded for him July 31 to face lefties in big moments, and so far he either has struggled or been unavailable. — Jesse Dougherty

Excerpted from
washingtonpost.com/nationals

Ross’s sore forearm

means Voth gets start

The back of the Washington
Nationals’ rotation continues to
shift, this time because Joe Ross
is experiencing right forearm
pain and can’t pitch Saturday
night against the Atlanta Braves
at SunTrust Park. Austin Voth
will start in his place.
Ross, 26, felt forearm soreness
during his regular between-starts
bullpen session this week. He has
been the team’s fifth starter for a
few turns now after winning that
spot over Erick Fedde but had his
worst outing of the season
Monday against the New York
Mets.
Manager Dave Martinez
expects Voth, 27, to throw 75 to
80 pitches and hopes the right-
hander can complete five
innings. Fedde will back up Voth,
who had success against the
Braves earlier this season — six
innings, two runs June 23. Voth
was the fifth starter before going
to the injured list with right
shoulder tendinitis in July. He
then began a lengthy rehab
process that sent him through
the Gulf Coast League before he
made two starts for Class AA
Harrisburg.
Voth’s success varied during
his recovery. And his next task is
to hold down one of baseball’s
best lineups in the middle of a
pennant race.
Ross’s forearm was not the
only injury news for the
Nationals on Friday. T hey will
also be without utility infielder
Adrián Sanchez for a few days as
he recovers from a stomach virus.
And Roenis Elías has a tweaked
right hamstring after exiting in
the eighth inning of a 4-0 loss
Thursday night in Atlanta. Elías
strained his hamstring Aug. 2
and missed close to a month.
This time, the pain is just above
where he felt it the first time, he
said Friday, and he probably will
undergo an MRI exam Saturday.
The Nationals are waiting an
extra day so the swelling doesn’t
obscure the results.
“I definitely feel more

Fried, who blanked them for seven innings Thursday, that trend hasn’t made it to Atlanta. “[Hitting coach Kevin Long] went back and looked and said the whole night [Keuchel] made four or five mistakes over the middle of the plate,” Zimmerman noted after the game. “So some- times they’re going to beat you.” And because the Nationals didn’t hit early and couldn’t fin- ish any rallies against Keuchel, Corbin was left with a rail-thin margin for error. His command was spotty from the start. He threw 26 pitches in the first, threw 24 more in the second and wilted in the third by giving up a solo homer to Ozzie Albies. That came on a slider that hung in the middle of the strike zone. Corbin was otherwise effective with that pitch, as he often is, and used it to get seven of his nine strikeouts. But he lasted only five innings. He gave up an unearned run in the fourth, in a rally extended by an Anthony Rendon error, and exited after escaping a bases- loaded jam with his 107th pitch. That kept the Nationals within striking distance. The offense just wasn’t up for a push. The Nationals started the fifth with back-to-back singles, but Keuchel got the next three batters out to sidestep trouble. Then they put

NATIONALS FROM D1

Baseball

BY MATTHEW GUTIERREZ

Kerry Flynn Barrett heard two
cracks. The first was the sound of
bat on ball. The second was the
sound of that baseball hitting her
7-year-old daughter in the face.
Barrett was sitting in left field
watching the Hudson Valley Ren-
egades, the Ta mpa Bay Rays’
Class A affiliate. After she heard
the second sound, she looked at
her daughter, Siobhan. Blood was
gushing down her nose. Then the
little girl’s eyes rolled back. The
mother screamed.
“I thought she was going to die
in front of me,” Barrett said. “I
started saying, ‘Stay with me, stay
with me.’ ”
Her daughter survived, but
medical expenses exceeded
$100,000. Barrett, a human re-
sources executive who lives in
Pound Ridge, N.Y., is now among
a group of people pushing for
more safety at minor league
parks. They believe sharing their
stories could spark clubs to ex-
tend netting and prevent such
accidents.
This summer has generated a
renewed awareness of the threat
of foul balls, after a 4-year-old girl
was struck at a major league
game in Houston, leading to calls

for teams to do more. This season, there have been 16 reported cases of fans being injured at major league games from foul balls or flying bats and six at minor league games. Five major league teams and seven minor league clubs have extended their netting beyond the dugouts, while six major league teams and 11 minor league clubs have announced plans t o do the same for the 2020 season. Three teams in the majors and 11 in the minors said they are study- ing the issue. Fans who have witnessed or suffered injuries at minor league parks believe more of the 159 minor league stadiums nationwide should follow the ex- ample of the majors, where more than a third of the teams have addressed foul ball risks or plan to do so. Minor league teams enter the offseason in September, when they usually make ballpark im- provements. And because the parks are smaller than major league stadiums, fans are closer to the action. In many cases, they’re more prone to foul balls, which are increasingly common in the velocity era: With pitchers throwing harder, batters have less time to make solid contact,

leading to more foul balls reach- ing the seats. Many who oppose extended netting say it obstructs fans’ views and interferes with their ability to mingle with players. There also are financial barriers at the minor league level: While major league teams have large budgets, minor league clubs have less to allocate for additions such as netting. The cost depends on ballpark size and dimensions, but extending netting down the foul lines often runs between $75,000 and $200,000, according to minor league general managers who have done so. The Iowa Cubs, the Class AAA affiliate for the Chicago Cubs, will be one of the first teams in the minors to extend to the foul poles before next season. The team spent about $155,000 to extend netting from behind home plate to the end of each dugout. “Most of us in minor league baseball don’t work under unlim- ited budgets,” I owa General Man- ager Sam Bernabe said. “But it’s a great thing to protect the fans.” The Washington Nationals’ Class AAA affiliate, the Fresno Grizzlies, will extend netting to each foul pole, as well. Once the

Nationals announced in June that they would extend netting after the all-star break, Grizzlies President Derek Franks said “it made us feel more eager” to do the same for 2020. The team plans to make the netting “invisi- ble” and retractable so fans can still mingle with players and request autographs. Over two- plus years, the extensions will cost more than $100,000, Franks said. Closer to Washington, the Frederick Keys, the Class A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles, have extended netting twice in the past three years. In 2017, they expanded to adhere to the leaguewide recommendation, which suggested teams cover seats between each dugout. This year, the Keys went farther, cov- ering 95 percent of the ballpark’s seats, according to General Man- ager Dave Ziedelis. But there are many minor league parks, particularly below Class AAA, where thousands of seats aren’t covered. Whether they eventually mirror what the higher levels of baseball have done remains to be seen, largely because of budgets. “We have about $35,000 per year budgeted for ballpark im-

provements,” said Travis Painter, general manager of the Hagers- town Suns, whose netting covers dugout to dugout. “We haven’t had concrete discussions about extending netting as of yet.” Foul ball victims at minor league games encourage others to write to their local minor league team. In some cases, they themselves have written, explain- ing the physical damage and emotional trauma they experienced. That includes Dina Simp- son of Chardon, Ohio, who attended a May 2017 Lake County Captains game with her husband and three children. In the ninth inning, a hard line drive hit her directly in the right eye, breaking her nose and caus- ing “bleeding everywhere.” The eye swelled shut, she said, and she permanently lost vision in the eye. The injury cost her $4,000 in out-of-pocket medical expenses. “I didn’t mean to make this a cause,” said Simpson, a netting advocate who writes about fan safety. “I went to a baseball game and came home blind.” There are dozens of cases in which fans experienced a life- changing accident while watching a minor league baseball

game. Dana Mattay, a school counselor in Frisco, Te x., was at a Frisco RoughRiders game in 20 14 when, as she reached for her popcorn, she was struck by a line drive. The ball’s s eams left a mark between her eyes. Mattay was rushed to the hospital, and doc- tors told her it was a miracle that she survived. She suffered nerve damage and has since dealt with memory loss, confusion and headaches. “The trauma,” she said, “has been a ripple effect.” Barrett, the mother whose 7-year-old daughter was struck in 2005, did not attend a baseball game for several years after the incident. The incident occurred 14 years ago, but Barrett said it was life-altering. Her daughter was left with scars across her head. Her older daughter, also present at the game, suffered from post-traumatic stress disor- der, Barrett said. Finally, in 2009, she attended a game at Yankee Stadium. When she pulled into the parking lot, Barrett said, she had an anxiety attack. “It is very simple,” Barrett said. “Extend the netting so nobody has to go through what I did.” [email protected]

Fans hurt by foul balls want trend of extra netting to extend through minors

NATIONALS NOTES

NATIONALS ON DECK

at Atlanta Braves

Today7:20 MASN Tomorrow 1:20 MASN

at Minnesota Twins

Tuesday7:40 MASN2 Wednesday7:40 MASN2

Thursday7:40 MASN

vs. Atlanta Braves

Fr iday7:05 MASN

Sept. 14 4:05 MASN Sept. 15 1:38 MASN

Radio: WJFK (106.7 FM)

Nats again can’t solve a Braves starter

JOHN BAZEMORE/ASSOCIATED PRESS Nationals reliever Wander Suero allowed a two-run homer by Josh Donaldson in the seventh inning, valuable insurance for the Braves.

PATRICK SEMANSKY/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Joe Ross, who has been the Nationals’ fifth starter, felt pain in his
right forearm during a bullpen session and can’t pitch Saturday.

Braves 4, Nationals 3 WASHINGTON AB RHBI BB SO AVG Turner ss........................502 000.296 Kendrick 2b ....................412 000.328 Rendon 3b ......................311 010.338 Soto lf ............................300 012.296 Zimmerman 1b ..............411 300.252 Robles cf ........................401 002.251 Gomes c.........................401 000.215 Taylor rf .........................201 000.213 Eaton ph.........................100 000.287 Suero p...........................000 000.000 Rodney p........................000 000--- Adams ph .......................100 001.231 Corbin p..........................200 001.069 Rainey p.........................000 000.000 Parra ph-rf .....................200 002.231 TOTALS 35 39 328 — ATLANTA AB RHBI BB SO AVG Acuna Jr. cf-rf ................501 002.283 Albies 2b ........................412 100.290 Freeman 1b ....................311 011.300 Donaldson 3b .................211 221.262 Duvall lf..........................311 012.244 Swanson ss....................300 011.254 Riley rf ...........................300 001.238 Martin p.........................000 000--- Jackson p.......................000 000--- Newcomb p....................000 000.000 Camargo ph ....................100 000.227 Greene p.........................000 000--- Flowers c........................000 120.238 Keuchel p.......................200 002.129 Joyce ph .........................101 000.280 Hamilton pr-cf ...............100 001.300 TOTALS 28 47 47 11 — WASHINGTON.............. 000 000 030 —3 92 ATLANTA...................... 001 100 20X —4 70 E: Rendon (9), Suero (1). LOB: Washington 7, Atlanta 9. 2B: Albies (39), Duvall (4). HR: Zimmerman (5), off Jackson; Albies (20), off Corbin; Donaldson (35), off Su- ero. RBI: Zimmerman 3 (22), Albies (74), Flowers (31), Donaldson 2 (84). CS: Swanson (5). SF: Flowers. DP: Atlanta 1 (Swanson, Albies, Freeman). WASHINGTON IP HRER BB SO NP ERA Corbin .......................... 5321691 07 3.16 Rainey .......................... 120000164 .06 Suero ........................ 1.1 22201224 .50 Rodney ........................ .2 00011173 .28 ATLANTA IP HRER BB SO NP ERA Keuchel ....................... 660023943 .47 Martin .......................... 1000018 5.40 Jackson ....................... .1 33301 19 3.97 Newcomb .................... .2 0000153 .23 Greene ......................... 100002 14 3.63 WP: Keuchel (7-5); LP: Corbin (11-7); S: Greene (1). HBP: Rainey (Flowers). T: 3:20. A: 3 7,181 (41,149).

HOW THEY SCORED BRAVES THIRD Ronald Acuna Jr. strikes out swinging. Ozzie Albies homers. Freddie Freeman strikes out swinging. Josh Donaldson called out on strikes. Braves 1, Nationals 0 BRAVES FOURTH Adam Duvall double. Dansby Swanson reaches on error. Adam Duvall to third. Fielding error by Anthony Ren- don. Austin Riley pops out. Tyler Flowers out on a sacri- fice fly, Adam Duvall scores. Dallas Keuchel called out on strikes. Braves 2, Nationals 0 BRAVES SEVENTH Ozzie Albies grounds out. Freddie Freeman singles. Josh Donaldson homers, Freddie Freeman scores. Adam Duvall called out on strikes. Dansby Swanson pops out. Braves 4, Nationals 0 NATIONALS EIGHTH Howie Kendrick singles. Anthony Rendon singles. How- ie Kendrick to second. Juan Soto strikes out swinging. Ryan Zimmerman homers, Anthony Rendon scores, Howie Kendrick scores. Victor Robles strikes out swinging. Yan Gomes grounds out. Braves 4, Nationals 3

The Washington Post - 07.09.2019

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