THURSDAY, AUGUST 1 , 2019. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ M2 D5
tion starter Erick Fedde back to the
minors — if they believe Max
Scherzer is on track for a Monday
return — or consider DFA’ing Matt
Grace or Tony Sipp.
Adding Elías gives them four
lefty relievers (including Doolittle)
if both Grace and Sipp stick
around. That may be an inefficient
use of space, but both pitchers
were on the team flight to Phoenix
on Wednesday. Wander Suero and
Tanner Rainey still have minor
league options, meaning they
could be sent down without conse-
quence, but they have developed
into high-leverage righties in front
of Doolittle. If Hudson and Strick-
land can replace them there, Suero
and Rainey profile well as middle
relievers in a better bullpen.
Then it becomes a matter of how
that bullpen stacks up against the
Braves, in the seven remaining
matchups between the two clubs,
and in the other 47 games that will
decide the Nationals’ fate.
“The biggest thing is the mes-
sage that it sends from the front
office to the guys in here in this
clubhouse,” Doolittle said Wednes-
day. “That they got our backs and
they’re going to try to give us a little
bit extra pieces to keep this mo-
mentum going and help us down
the stretch run.”
[email protected]Washington, time can heal
wounds, and Rizzo endorsed
Strickland as a pitcher with pas-
sion and experience in high-
leverage situations. The 30-year-
old has the highest upside of the
three acquisitions and is under
team control through 2021.
“Love the attitude, the chip on
his shoulder,” Rizzo said of Strick-
land. “He’s a tough guy that brings
it. You love him or you hate him,
and he’s a National now.”
The Nationals will also get two
additional arbitration years with
Elías, something Rizzo looks for
when scouring the trade market.
Hudson, 32, will be a free agent
after this season. To make room for
the relievers ahead of a nine-game
swing through Phoenix, San Fran-
cisco and New York, the Nationals
needed to make a handful of corre-
sponding moves. They wasted no
time clearing the three necessary
40-man roster spots, moving re-
liever Jonny Venters to the 60-day
IL with a left shoulder strain and
designating relievers Javy Guerra
and Michael Blazek for assign-
ment.
That leaves one more spot on the
25-man roster to create, if Hudson,
Elías and Strickland all join the
team before a 9:40 p.m. matchup
with the Arizona Diamondbacks
on Friday. The Nationals could op-Rizzo was operating on a signifi-
cantly tighter budget, with Wash-
ington planning to stay beneath
the $206 million competitive bal-
ance tax threshold. That left about
$5 million to spend at the deadline,
based on loose payroll projections,
and Rizzo said the team is still
under it after the three deals.
The Nationals also didn’t need a
closer, as the Braves did, because
Sean Doolittle is set in that role.
Instead, Washington got three re-
lievers who can slide into high-
leverage situations, possibly spell
Doolittle if needed and present a
few conundrums that Rizzo im-
mediately addressed. The left-
handed Elías has allowed lefties to
hit .353 against him this season.
Rizzo noted that his career splits
are much more encouraging.
Strickland has missed almost all of
this season with a strained right lat
muscle and has made just one ap-
pearance since returning from the
60-day injured list. But Rizzo is
confident Strickland is healthy and
will be a good fit in the clubhouse.
Strickland has a history with the
Nationals, from when he and Bryce
Harper scuffled in front of the
mound in San Francisco. Harper
chucked his helmet at Strickland,
rather unsuccessfully, after Strick-
land hit him with a pitch in May- But Harper is no longer with
league arms, lefty Taylor Guilbeau
and righty Elvis Alvarado, for Elías.
They used left-handed pitcher Aar-
on Fletcher to net Strickland, and
they didn’t have to touch any of
their top 20 prospects to improve.
But that raises the question of
how the Nationals’ deadline moves
stacked up to those made by the
Braves, who they are chasing in the
division, and who made the biggest
bullpen splash before time ran out.
Washington was interested in
Greene, if a bit wary of his standout
season, and had discussions with
the Tigers into Wednesday. But De-
troit never stopped asking for top
prospect Carter Kieboom, accord-
ing to a person with knowledge of
the negotiations, and Washington
was not willing to trade him.
The Braves, on the other hand,
parted with three of their top 30
prospects to get Greene, Melancon
and Martin, all of whom have clos-
ing experience. Greene, a righty,
has a 1.18 ERA and 22 saves this
season. Martin, a hard-throwing
righty, has been dominant. The
Braves will take on the $18 million
still owed to Melancon, according
to reports, and add him to a bull-
pen that had been relying on the
shaky Luke Jackson to finish
games.
NATIONALS FROM D1
combined is 3.64, slightly
higher than that of Elías or
Hudson.
The crux of the day was that
the whole NL East was arming
up for the final two months.
“We’ve upgraded our bullpen.
These aren’t the sexiest names
in the trade market, but we
think we got good quality,
reliable guys with some moxie
and some experience,” said
General Manager Mike Rizzo,
who felt paralyzed as other
GMs wanted to wait until the
final afternoon before the
trade deadline for maximum
leverage. If not for new rules
this year, making Wednesday
the drop-dead day for deals for
the rest of the year —
something Rizzo called “made
for TV” — the Nats’ GM would,
as usual, have done business
sooner.
“We got a couple
controllable relievers [Elías
and Strickland through 2021],”
said Rizzo, who did not have
to give up any of his top
prospects in any of the deals.
“We upgraded ourselves....
We are excited to take this
road trip and really step on
the gas.”
Rizzo has been limited to
targeting useful but
unspectacular relievers such
as the current trio for two
reasons. He has depleted his
talent pool with go-for-it
trades in recent years, such as
sending Felipe Vázquez, now
an all-star, to Pittsburgh. Also,
with the arrival of Victor
Robles, 22, and Juan Soto, who
hit his 51st career homer, tying
him with Bryce Harper for
third most by a player before
his 21st birthday, the Nats
have only two of the top 100
minor league prospects. Only
Carter Kieboom is a hot
property, but he is
untouchable in case Anthony
Rendon leaves D.C. after this
season.
Rizzo’s own past trades, and
his farm system, have kept the
Nats in several World Series
hunts. But the cost has been a
depleted cupboard, removing
the chance of a plausible offer
for an elite reliever.
Inside the clubhouse, this
was a bleak day with a tough
loss. More than several past
Nats teams, this is a veteran
group that “loses hard” — a
desirable quality that feeds
into team resilience and the
ability to play under pressure.
Third base coach Bob Henley,
popular with all but in a
gruesome “send-’em-to-their-
doom” slump lately, made the
game’s worst decision by far.
Henley got Howie Kendrick
thrown out by six feet at the
plate on a double from Trea
Turner in the sixth inning with
no outs, the Nats down 4-1 and
the Nos. 2-3-4 hitters due up.
Say what? Pile up those no-no-
don’t-go factors until you
scream. The Nats didn’t score.
In theory, one run there — the
next batter, of course, hit a
deep flyball — changes the
outcome.
The results of this one day
will fade, even though it was
an important loss. Whether
Elías, Hudson and even
Harper-sparring-partner
Strickland turn the Nats’
bullpen, which has improved
for two months, into a fully
presentable October bunch
will be revealed soon enough.
For now, it is enough that
when the Nats’ bullpen gates
swings open next, you can
look with curiosity, perhaps
even tempered anticipation —
not just mounting horror — at
what may happen next. Mere
adequacy would be marvelous.
[email protected]For more by Thomas Boswell, visit
washingtonpost.com/boswell.as the team that may yet track
down Atlanta, this will
probably be the day when they
turned the worst bullpen in
baseball into a functional unit.
If so, that change upgrades the
entire status of this team from
flight-of-fancy contender,
doing it with mirrors, into a
genuine October threat. The
new pieces will have to fit and
function. But after months of
waiting, and brain beating,
those pieces have finally
arrived. With a third of a
season remaining, the Nats
can now find out what they
can be. Or not.
With the addition of lefty
Roenis Elías, who turns 31
Thursday, and righty Daniel
Hudson, 32, whose ERAs over
the past two seasons are 3.49
and 3.54, respectively, as well
as Hunter Strickland (career
ERA 2.98), the Nats should
build a consistent bridge to
closer Sean Doolittle and, just
as vital, face the late innings —
even the baleful eighth inning
in which they have given up 85
runs — without raw terror.
How much will the new
arrivals improve this bullpen
is a valid question. It would be
almost impossible for a team
with a 5.97 bullpen ERA, one
of the worst in 50 years, to add
two functioning relievers, plus
a lottery ticket in Strickland
(coming back from 60 days on
the injured list) and not get
better. Elías closed in Seattle,
posting 14 saves.
The Nats’ bullpen has been
so cataclysmically awful that,
had the relievers been merely
an average bunch of firemen,
they would have allowed
roughly 50 fewer runs this
season. Some teams need stars
to invigorate them. This team
just needed competence. On
paper, the Nationals got that;
on the field, we’ll find out.
Wednesday afternoon could
have felt like a much more
major turning point if the Nats
hadn’t squandered their walk-
off chance when Gerardo Parra
grounded into a double play
(scoring the tying run) and
Brian Dozier whiffed. Then the
normally reliable Doolittle
gave up a homer — on a high
fastball, one of his bread-and-
butter pitches — to former AL
MVP Josh Donaldson in the
10th inning.
In the same afternoon, the
Nats hurt their chances to win
their division but may have
significantly improved their
chances to have a realistic shot
of playing into October, where
they will now be able to meet
anyone on semi-even terms.
Let’s wait until we see a few
weeks of the new guys before
we say the Nats can face the
late innings of playoff games
on even terms. Mere bullpen
adequacy would be such a
shock to the system that Nats
fans might have to be revived
in the aisles.
Which would you rather
have — three new arms or two
games in the standings?
“Why not both? We almost
had both,” said an exasperated
Doolittle, still stinging from
Donaldson’s homer.
“It feels good that the front
office is sending a message —
they have our backs,” added
Doolittle, refocusing on the
future. “It’ll be a breath of
fresh air.
“There are some of us that
could use some
reinforcements,” said Doolittle,
mentioning Wander Suero,
who pitched two scoreless
innings against the Braves and
is on pace for 78 appearances.
Some will say the Nats
swapped out the deck chairs
on their bullpen Titanic for
comfy Barcaloungers. Sure it’s
an upgrade, but will it save the
ship?
It’s the Nats’ remaining
relievers, such as Doolittle,
Fernando Rodney, who was
asked to pitch three times in
two days last week, young
Tanner Rainey and Suero who
will appreciate the additions.
Some teams, such as the
Braves, entered the day
needing a closer. After the
Braves watched their
disheveled righty Luke
Jackson blow his eighth save
of the season in a two-run Nats
ninth, they completed their
trade for Detroit closer Shane
Greene. That deal will look
flashy because Greene has a
1.18 ERA. But little in his
career, or an analytic analysis,
indicates a dominant pitcher.
His ERA the past two yearsBOSWELL FROM D1THOMAS BOSWELLRizzo doesn’t relinquish
much to address a need
NATIONALS ON DECK
at Arizona DiamondbacksTomorrow 9:40 MASN2
Saturday 8:10 MASN2
Sunday 4:10 MASN2at San Francisco GiantsMonday 9:45 MASN2
Tuesday 9:45 MASN2
Wednesday 3:45 MASN2at New York MetsAug. 9 7:10 MASN
Aug. 10 7:10 MASN
Aug. 11 1:10 MASNRadio: WJFK (106.7 FM)baseball
BY SAM FORTIERWednesday afternoon at Na-
tionals Park wasn’t about what
happened in the game until the
Washington Nationals made it so.
Most of the game slid by distract-
edly under cloudy skies while the
focus intensified on the clock tick-
ing down to the 4 p.m. trade dead-
line. But after the Nationals’ front
office acquired three relievers in a
flurry of moves, the team on the
field cobbled together a two-run,
ninth-inning rally against the At-
lanta Braves to force extras.
But the same bullpen that was
bolstered by trades during the
game cost the Nationals on the
field in the 10th inning of a 5-4 loss.
Washington’s most trusted reliev-
er all season, closer Sean Doolittle,
allowed a decisive home run to
Braves third baseman Josh Don-
aldson and the offense couldn’t
capitalize on a two-on, one-out
rally in the bottom of the inning.
“Unfortunately, that’s a pitch I
live and die with. It’s a pitch that
I’ve had success with against him
this year,” Doolittle said of the 93-
mph four-seam fastball up and
away. “[Donaldson] made an ad-
justment. With two strikes, [I] feel
good about it. Just got beat. It
stinks.”
The game had parallels to the
teams’ trade-deadline chess
match: The Braves started hot,
building an early 4-1 lead after
acquiring the first reliever on
Tuesday night. The Nationals
roared back, trading for a trio of
arms late and tying the game in the
ninth. The Braves got the last word
with Donaldson’s home run and
two more bullpen acquisitions at
the deadline in veteran right-
handers Mark Melancon and
Shane Greene, the latter of whom
was rumored to be a target of the
Nationals.
In his fourth start against Atlan-
ta this season, starter Aníbal Sán-
chez tried to show the Braves a
different look. He throws inside
often, but he worked outside and
avoided his front-door cutter.
“I’m looking for groundball,
weak contact,” he said, though he
didn’t get much of it.
A home run in the second, back-
to-back doubles in the third and
three straight singles in the fourth
— including one from the oppos-
ing starter, Mike Soroka — tagged
Sánchez with three runs. After giv-
ing up a pair of doubles in the
sixth, the veteran right-hander de-
parted with his worst line since
returning from the injured list in
late May: Five-plus innings, onewalk, six strikeouts and 10 hits (six
of which were extra bases) for four
runs.
The stumble from one of the
Nationals’ three trusted, healthy
starters highlighted both the need
for a consistent fifth starter and
bullpen help, a fact magnified by
the division leader jumping ahead
in the three-way National League
East arms race. The Braves ac-
quired right-handed reliever Chris
Martin on Tuesday for a young,
left-handed starting prospect
from their pitching-rich system.
In the sixth, with pinch hitter
Howie Kendrick at the plate to
lead off, the Nationals traded a
Class A starter for Toronto Blue
Jays right-handed reliever Daniel
Hudson, a rental with a 3.00 ERA
who is averaging nine strikeouts
per nine innings.
Kendrick walked. The previous
time the Nationals faced Soroka, in
Atlanta, they had battered him on
their third trip through the order.
Trea Turner, facing Soroka for the
third time Wednesday, smacked a
ball into the left-center field gap.
With no outs and the heart of the
order due up, the breakthroughthe Nationals waited for all after-
noon seemed imminent.
But as Kendrick dug around
second, he saw third base coach
Bob Henley pinwheeling him
home. Kendrick sprinted for the
plate, but the relay throw beat him
by about five feet. Turner never
advanced past second.
“[Henley] is a very aggressive
third base coach and, you know
what, I’m not going to fault [him],”
Manager Dave Martinez said.
“Whatever people say, he’s really
good at what he does. Super good.
He makes more right decisions
than he does wrong, and I’m not
saying that this was a wrong one.
He saw what he saw and sent
Howie. I never question him on
anytime he sends anybody.”
When the Nationals acquired
their second reliever of the day,
left-hander Roenis Elías from the
Seattle Mariners, they were in the
midst of going down in order in the
seventh.
In the eighth, Matt Adams
pinch-hit. The first baseman had
missed two games after an 89-mph
slider hit his right foot on Sunday
against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Adams looked fine. He clobbered a
home run into the right field seats.
Minutes later, the Nationals ac-
quired another Seattle reliever,
right-hander Hunter Strickland,
in a separate deal.
In the ninth, dealmaking done,
the Nationals loaded the bases
trailing by one with no outs. Gerar-
do Parra grounded into a double
play but drove in the tying run.
With two outs and the winning run
90 feet away, the Nationals still
had a chance. Brian Dozier struck
out to send the game to extras.
“We just couldn’t get that one
big hit today,” Martinez said, look-
ing disappointed. “But we’ve still
got plenty of games left with
them.”
In the 10th, Doolittle watched
Donaldson’s home run sail over
the center field fence and put both
arms over his head. He couldn’t
believe it. He later left the mound,
inning over, with his hat askew, as
if it were a popped lid letting off
steam.
[email protected]Nats make moves, then are stopped
KATHERINE FREY/THE WASHINGTON POSTHowie Kendrick is tagged out at the plate by Braves catcher Tyler Flowers after he was waved home by third base coach Bob Henley.
In bullpen arms race, Nationals are trying to keep up
BRAVES 5,
NATIONALS 4 (10)HOW THEY SCORED
BRAVES SECOND
Donaldson grounds out. Duvall homers to left field. In-
ciarte singles. Flowers doubles. Inciarte to third. Cama-
rgo is intentionally walked. Soroka grounds out.Camar-
go out at second.
Braves 1, Nationals 0
NATIONALS SECOND
Soto homers to center field. Suzuki walks. Parra
grounds out. Suzuki out at second. Dozier flies out.
Braves 1, Nationals 1
BRAVES THIRD
Acuna Jr. doubles. Albies doubles. Acuna Jr. scores.
Freeman lines out. Albies to third. Donaldson strikes
out swinging. Duvall strikes out swinging.
Braves 2, Nationals 1
BRAVES FOURTH
Inciarte flies out. Flowers strikes out swinging. Camar-
go singles. Soroka singles. Camargo to second. Acuna
Jr. singles. Soroka to third. Camargo scores. Acuna Jr.
steals second. Albies grounds out.
Braves 3, Nationals 1
BRAVES SIXTH
Inciarte doubles. Flowers doubles. Inciarte scores. Ca-
margo reaches on a fielder’s choice. Flowers out at
third. Soroka out on a sacrifice bunt. Camargo to sec-
ond. Acuna Jr. lines out.
Braves 4, Nationals 1
NATIONALS EIGHTH
Dozier flies out. Robles lines out.Adams homers to cen-
ter field. Turner lines out.
Braves 4, Nationals 2
NATIONALS NINTH
Eaton singles. Rendon singles. Eaton to second. Soto
walks. Rendon to second. Eaton to third. Suzuki sin-
gles. Soto to second. Rendon to third. Eaton scores.
Parra grounds into double play. Soto to third. Rendon
scores.Dozier strikes out swinging.
Braves 4, Nationals 4
BRAVES TENTH
Freeman grounds out. Donaldson homers to center
field. Duvall pops out. Inciarte flies out.
Braves 5, Nationals 4Braves 5, Nationals 4 (10)
ATLANTA ABRH BI BB SO AVG
Acuna Jr. rf .................... 5 1 2 1 0 1 .290
Albies 2b ........................ 5 0 1 1 0 1 .285
Freeman 1b .................... 5 0 0 0 0 1 .305
Donaldson 3b ................. 5 1 1 1 0 2 .255
Duvall lf.......................... 5 1 2 1 0 2 .500
Inciarte cf....................... 5 1 2 0 0 0 .232
Flowers c........................ 4 0 2 1 0 1 .235
Camargo ss .................... 3 1 1 0 1 0 .230
Soroka p ......................... 2 0 1 0 0 0 .108
Swarzak p ...................... 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---
Joyce ph ......................... 1 0 0 0 0 0 .270
Jackson p ....................... 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---
Newcomb p .................... 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Tomlin p ......................... 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
TOTALS 40 5 12 5 1 8 —
WASHINGTON ABRH BI BB SO AVG
Turner ss........................ 4 0 1 0 1 1 .283
Eaton rf .......................... 5 1 1 0 0 0 .280
Rendon 3b ...................... 4 1 1 0 1 0 .317
Soto lf ............................ 3 1 2 1 1 0 .289
Suzuki c.......................... 3 0 1 1 1 0 .258
Parra 1b.......................... 4 0 0 0 0 0 .238
Dozier 2b ........................ 4 0 0 0 0 2 .238
Doolittle p ...................... 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Robles cf ........................ 4 0 0 0 0 0 .242
Sanchez p....................... 1 0 0 0 0 1 .057
Rainey p ......................... 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---
Kendrick ph .................... 0 0 0 0 1 0 .316
Suero p ........................... 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Adams ph ....................... 1 1 1 1 0 0 .244
Rodney p ........................ 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---
Sanchez 2b..................... 1 0 1 0 0 0 .231
TOTALS 34 4 8 3 5 4 —
ATLANTA...............011 101 000 1 —5 12 0
WASH. ...................010 000 012 0 — 48 0
LOB: Atlanta 7, Washington 5. 2B: Acuna Jr. (14), Al-
bies (29), Duvall (1), Inciarte (8), Flowers 2 (8), Turner
(23). HR: Duvall (4), off Sanchez; Donaldson (25), off
Doolittle; Soto (20), off Soroka; Adams (17), off
Swarzak. RBI: Acuna Jr. (65), Albies (58), Donaldson
(66), Duvall (6), Flowers (20), Soto (70), Suzuki (40),
Adams (44). SB: Acuna Jr. (25), Inciarte (6). S: Soroka.
DP: Atlanta 3 (Albies, Camargo, Freeman), (Freeman),
(Camargo, Albies, Freeman); Washington 1 (Dozier,
Turner, Parra).
ATLANTA IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA
Soroka ...................... 7 31 13 3 93 2.37
Swarzak ................... 1 11 1 0 0 13 3.68
Jackson .................... 0 22 2 0 0 6 3.96
Newcomb ................. 1 10 0 1 1 17 2.61
Tomlin ..................... 1 10 0 1 0 16 3.63
WASH. IPHRER BB SO NP ERA
Sanchez.................. 5 10 4 4 1 6 98 3.80
Rainey .................... 1 00 0 0 0 7 3.91
Suero...................... 2 10 0 0 1 20 4.53
Rodney ................... 1 00 0 0 1 11 6.67
Doolittle ................ 1 11 1 0 0 16 3.00
WP: Newcomb (5-1); LP: Doolittle (6-3); S: Tomlin (2).
Sanchez pitched to 2 batters in the 6th.
Jackson pitched to 2 batters in the 9th.
Inherited runners-scored: Newcomb 2-2, Rainey 1-0.
T: 3:14. A: 31,576 (41,313).