Washington falls in Cleveland but heads home with series victories over first-place Braves and Guardians.
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CLEVELAND — It wasn’t the impeccable ending to the road trip the Washington Nationals were hoping for. With the sweep of the Cleveland Guardians within their grasp, the Nationals dropped the series finale Wednesday, 3-2, and ended the trip 4-2.
But while things didn’t end on a high note, it was, by most measures, still a success. They won back-to-back series against division leaders, first taking two of three from the Atlanta Braves and then doing the same against the Guardians. The Nationals got to one game above .500 on Monday, their first time above that mark since March, and then reached two games above .500 on Tuesday.
After Wednesday’s loss, the Nationals sit at 29-28 as they head home to open a three-game series against the San Diego Padres on Friday.
“These guys just keep believing,” Manager Blake Butera said. “They believe in one another, they believe in their teammates. At the end of the day, look, we can go out and play the way we have these last six games on the road and in tough places to play, you have to feel good about it.”
The same offense that on Tuesday became the first in Major League Baseball to score 300 runs went quiet for most of Wednesday, despite opening the scoring in the third inning on a double from CJ Abrams. They got away from their approach in the middle innings, Butera said, and weren’t able to break through against Guardians starter Gavin Williams, who allowed just one run on three hits in seven innings.
Washington’s pitching and defense have looked much improved on this swing, but both faltered in the fifth.
After Curtis Mead was unable to field a grounder from Austin Hedges, Travis Bazzana doubled and Jose Ramírez hit a sacrifice fly to score Hedges and tie the game. That ended Miles Mikolas’s day after 3⅔ innings as the Nationals’ second pitcher. Richard Lovelady then gave up three singles in a row as the Guardians took a 3-1 lead.
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“He [Lovelady] made some good pitches, there was some soft contact that just seemed to be hit in the perfect spots,” Butera said. “He’s been so good for us this year, and I know this one little blunder, he will move through it, and he’ll be fine next time.”
The Nationals had a chance in the ninth, with Mead singling then advancing to third on an Abrams groundball and scoring on a sacrifice fly by Daylen Lile. But that’s all they would muster, as José Tena and Jorbit Vivas struck out to end the game.
Staying in the game until the end may not count for much, but it does give the Nationals confidence they can contend even on days when they aren’t playing their best. The Nationals did so in both of their losses on this trip, battling with the Braves in extras in Friday’s 11-inning, 5-4 loss and falling short of a ninth-inning comeback Wednesday.
“That’s the nitty-gritty, play-this-game-to-win kind of attitude that I think everybody in this locker room has,” Mikolas said. “Players, coaching staff, everybody top to bottom, we have a chance to win a game, we’re going to go out and get it. … I think you put a lot of pressure on teams knowing they can’t just put you away and kind of forget about you those last seven, eight, nine innings.”
Coming close is just the first step.
“It was a good road trip, we got the job done,” Abrams said. “Could have easily went 6-0, but a couple of those two games didn’t go the way we wanted. Good road trip, take that home.”
Note: Left-handed pitcher Andrew Alvarez will start for the Nationals on Friday in place of Jake Irvin, who was put on the injured list Sunday with a right shoulder strain. Alvarez has been used in bulk out of the bullpen this season, pitching to a 2.84 ERA in 12⅔ innings.
PJ Poulin, who pitched a scoreless first inning on Wednesday, was optioned to Class AAA Rochester after the game. He has a 3.42 ERA in 23⅔ innings. The move will allow the Nationals to bring up a fresh pitcher to replace Alvarez in the bullpen.
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