Washington earns a series split as its offense is shut down by New York starter David Peterson.
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On Thursday afternoon, before the Washington Nationals faced the New York Mets to close out a four-game series, Manager Blake Butera noted how impressed he’s been with Cade Cavalli’s ability to stay in control in tense situations.
“Seems like each outing is getting better and better,” Butera said.
That was true again Thursday as Cavalli pitched a season-high seven innings, besting the mark he set in his previous outing, when he went 6 1/3 innings. He allowed just two runs, but the offense failed to produce as the Mets prevailed, 2-1.
The Nationals still walked away with a series split after winning Tuesday and Wednesday’s games, and head into a six-game road trip against the Atlanta Braves and Cleveland Guardians with a 25-26 record.
“I think overall, felt like we had a chance to win all of them,” Butera said. “Proud of the way guys fought today. … Thought we had a few opportunities, not a lot, but just didn’t get that big hit with runners in scoring position.”
After 1-2-3 first and second innings, Cavalli hit MJ Melendez with a pitch in the third then gave up back-to-back singles to Luis Torrens and Carson Benge. Bo Bichette hit a grounder that skipped past CJ Abrams and Nasim Nuñez, allowing Melendez and Torrens to score.
Cavalli allowed just one hit the rest of the game, a single to Brett Baty in the fourth. The only other baserunners he allowed came in the seventh as his command began to waver, Cavalli walking A.J. Ewing, who was then caught stealing, and hitting Melendez with a pitch.
He ended his day by getting Torrens to ground out to Abrams, who then made the throw to first to get the final out of the seventh inning. Cavalli walked off the mound with purpose as a spattering of fans behind the Nationals’ dugout, braving the incoming storms, gave him a standing ovation.
Cavalli attacked the zone throughout his outing, and his sweeper felt particularly good, he said. He struck out nine, and his ERA is down to 3.86 through 11 starts.
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“It was good, able to help out the bullpen,” Cavalli said. “We’re looking forward to getting after it next series and have some guys fresh and healthy, ready to go.”
The offense, meanwhile, didn’t have the same spunk. They’re familiar with Mets starter David Peterson, and previous time they faced him on April 29, they scored seven runs off him and forced him out of the game after 3 2/3 innings. This time, they didn’t have the same success.
“I just thought his stuff overall was better,” Butera said of Peterson’s outing. “He pitched backwards, he mixed speeds, the fastball played up because of that. We just couldn’t string together some at-bats.”
The Nationals had chances. They loaded the bases in the first inning, Andrés Chaparro, Abrams and Crews all walking with two outs, but Daylen Lile struck out to end the inning.
In the fifth, Keibert Ruiz singled, and James Wood doubled to have runners on second and third with no outs. The Nationals got one run across from the opportunity, Ruiz scoring on a grounder from Chaparro, but that’s all they produced on this afternoon.
“He was just attacking our weaknesses,” Lile said of Peterson, who exited after the fifth inning. “He was spinning a lot of breaking balls, trying to get us to chase, trying to get us off the fastball. He just did a great job playing the cat-and-mouse game.”
Clayton Beeter pitched a scoreless eighth inning in his return from the injured list. In the ninth, the Mets loaded the bases with no outs, but Orlando Ribalta escaped without allowing a run.
That set the Nationals up with one last opportunity in the bottom of the ninth, and they got a lucky break when Ewing couldn’t catch a flyball off the bat of Lile. Lile ended up with a double, then advanced to third on a groundout from Luis García Jr. The Nationals, though, still couldn’t find the hit when they needed it.
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