Washington’s starting pitcher gave up six runs in the first three innings. The Nationals had no response in the 6-3 defeat.
Read more US playing at home and trying to avoid another quick exit from World Cup knockout rounds
BOSTON — Much of this warm summer Monday afternoon was a dream for the Washington Nationals and, more than all others, Manager Blake Butera.
“This is pretty awesome,” said Butera, who played college ball at Boston College only a decade ago. “We went to games here when I was in school, and it was just like the coolest thing.”
He spent some time wandering Fenway Park’s outfield grass, his team marked their signatures inside the Green Monster’s outfield wall and smiles reigned as dice games broke out in the clubhouse. Winning can be whimsical, the Nationals had come to realize amid an unexpected 43-42 start with MLB’s best offense, especially after a feel-good series win against the Baltimore Orioles this weekend.
Which would make the subsequent 6-3 whacking by one of the worst teams in MLB, the Boston Red Sox (37-46), a nightmare.
“They were obviously trying to attack,” Butera said. Boston’s starter, Ranger Suarez, struck out eight in six innings: “He’s able to mix speeds pretty well and move the ball around the zone a ton. … He just kept us off balance.”
Before the game, between his frolicking and batting practice, Butera discussed the Washington bullpen. After a week that brought its season total to 22 blown saves — a mark that, if the Nationals’ current pace remained, would break MLB’s record by 11 — he said there was hope. His offense had proven it could offset any significant pitching difficulties. And if nothing else, his starters had shown enough over recent weeks to avoid stretching the bullpen.
Then Miles Mikolas got the start. The calamity was immediate.
Mikolas had shown better length as a starter before the Philadelphia series last week, going six innings in three of his first four starts in June. He only made it through three innings against the Phillies, yet Monday was markedly less encouraging. The Red Sox’ Ceddanne Rafaela reached on a single in the first. Next, Wilyer Abreu in the same manner. And with one out, Mikolas left a 94-mph fastball over the middle. In one motion, cleanup hitter Willson Contreras launched an attack on a apartment window over the left field goliath.
“A slider kind of slipped on me. And a fastball, I tried to lean on it a little too much with two strikes,” Mikolas diagnosed bluntly. “I got to do a better job of just hitting my spots.”
Benefiting Mikolas was Contreras, who is in the middle of a career year with 18 home runs and a .282 average, getting ejected in the second inning in an exchange with the first base umpire. Some of the offensive beating eased from there, and he survived through the seventh while allowing nine hits, to Butera’s chagrin.
“He did a nice job of selling and making pitches,” Butera said. “He did a better job location wise the rest of the way.”
After Contreras’s opener, third baseman Caleb Durbin belted another homer in the first, and sacrifice flies in the second and third brought the lead to 6-1.
Read more Montgomery hits the go-ahead double and Gonzalez has 3 RBIs as the White Sox down the Orioles
That one run?
The usual suspect: James Wood. Back when Monday evening was still about smelling the roses and positivity, he slammed the third pitch of the game 441 feet into right field, good for his sixth leadoff home run this season. Only Shohei Ohtani has more.
“It felt good,” Wood said in a somber tone after — a disconnect between his performance and the result. “The process the past day and a half has been a lot better.”
To pull the game to the semi-competitive form it ultimately found, Washington’s second typical offender, CJ Abrams, added to his budding all-star campaign with a two-RBI double in the sixth. After 15 consecutive hitless at bats, he let out a small grin when he reached second.
Yet he and Wood never got on base otherwise. The offense that made Monday afternoon — and the past month — so flowery was nowhere to be found.
“There’s a lot [of value],” Butera said of the evening. “Our offense, the way we’ve been swinging the bat, just to be able to keep it there…”
He trailed off. The afternoon was warm, bringing back memories in his undergrad stomping ground. But Butera, as he noted, isn’t “21 anymore.”
By the end of the evening, reality, as it so often does, had set in.
Notes: The Nationals placed Mitchell Parker and Richard Lovelady on the 15-day injured list, thinning an already shaky bullpen that blew four saves last week. Lovelady suffered a triceps strain, while Parker experienced elbow inflammation, each pitching against the Orioles on Sunday. The more jarring diagnosis was Parker’s with the velocity on his fastball dropping by 6 mph during the final at-bat he pitched.
“With it being the elbow, absolutely need to make sure we take care of him,” Butera said of Parker, whose 39 2/3 innings pitched are second most in Washington’s bullpen. “The stuff, it was the best we’d seen. … He said he felt great up until those last couple pitches.”
Parker was set for an MRI exam Monday afternoon.
In a pair of corresponding moves, Washington recalled Carson Palmquist and Riley Cornelio from CLass AAA Rochester. Both have pitched on the major league roster this month — Palmquist even went 3⅓ innings against the Phillies last week.
With the trade deadline roughly a month away, Nationals President of Baseball Operations Paul Toboni discussed before Monday’s contest the possibility of seeking bullpen aid sooner.
“We’re in this window, where there are a lot of teams that are still trying to see if they can put themselves in position to go for it,” he said. “Usually that means they’re less inclined to make deals.”
Read more Shohei Ohtani homers to lead Dodgers’ offensive onslaught in 9-4 win over A’s
