With two pitchers facing suspensions, a solid start and five homers key a 9-5 win.
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As the Washington Nationals began their last home stand before the all-star break Friday, their immediate focus was on beating the Pittsburgh Pirates. They sweated out a 9-5 win to kick off the three-game series at Nationals Park, with two home runs apiece from Luis García Jr. and Daylen Lile, and one from José Tena.
But in the back of their minds, the Nationals also have to prepare for a potential hole in their rotation as early as Sunday — making what Foster Griffin and the bullpen did Friday even more important. Griffin allowed one run in five innings, and Orlando Ribalta, Justin Lawrence and Clayton Beeter each had scoreless relief appearances.
MLB suspended Cade Cavalli and Miles Mikolas for seven and five games, respectively, on Thursday for their actions in Tuesday’s benches-clearing brawl against the Boston Red Sox. Both are appealing, and their suspensions will begin as soon as that process is finished.
They do not know when MLB will conclude that process, and it’s possible it comes before their next starts. Mikolas is penciled in for Sunday, with Cavalli lined up for Monday. If they can’t go, it’ll put a strain on a pitching staff that is already barely hanging on and devoid of quality reinforcements.
A solid outing by Griffin saved Washington from running through too many relievers before the hard hits come. The left-hander gave up four hits and a walk, with the only run coming off a solo shot from Bryan Reynolds, a rare middle-middle miss.
Griffin had gone six-plus innings with 100-plus pitches in four straight starts. He might have gone further against Pittsburgh, but the 100-plus-degree temperatures forced him to end his day at 83 pitches.
“Another really good outing for Foster,” Manager Blake Butera said. “He did a really good job pitching in this heat, sweating his butt off, I know.”
Griffin said his cutter felt the best of his seven pitches. He knew coming into the game that it would play well against the Pirates’ lineup, plus it wasn’t slipping out of his hand.
“That was a lot of sweat, trying to stay hydrated, trying to keep my hands dry to grip the ball,” Griffin said. “All the elements, the other team has to do the same thing, so have to grind through.”
Ribalta took over for the sixth inning, giving up a weak single to Esmerlyn Valdez but nothing else. Lawrence got two quick outs to open the seventh inning, then loaded the bases on a ground-rule double and two walks. Beeter struck out Reynolds to end the threat.
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“We trust the heck out of Clayton Beeter,” Butera said. “We are going to give him the ball well in big spots. I thought Lawrence threw the ball well early in the outing. I know he lost command a little bit at the end there, but I thought his stuff was really good. He’ll continue to get opportunities.”
Zak Kent survived the eighth inning. Valdez hit a leadoff single, then advanced to third when Jake Mangum tapped a soft grounder to CJ Abrams, who threw to second instead of first. It was Abrams’s second error of the game.
Kent immediately got the third out, but things didn’t go as smoothly in the ninth. With the Nationals up 9-1, Kent allowed four runs, though it didn’t end up impacting the outcome. And he did, at the very least, manage to end it without the Nationals needing to use another reliever.
The Nationals are still working through their pitching plans for Sunday and Monday, should the suspensions be upheld and the appeal process finished. Carson Palmquist and Brad Lord both have starting experience and can provide length, and they will make additional roster moves to fill the two vacant spots.
But one thing is for sure: The offense knows how to produce, as it showed again Friday on a night when the humidity was sending the ball flying.
García hit home runs of 395 and 413 feet, putting him at a career-high-tying 18 on the season and continuing his tear. He is 12 for 23 with three doubles, five homers and 13 RBI in his past six games.
“Just the work I put in every day with our hitting coaches,” García said through an interpreter. “We found something special about my swing that we have right now and just trying to put the ball up in the air, that’s probably the success that we’ve seen the last couple of months.”
Lile, who hadn’t gone deep since June 5, added a double to his two-homer night. He hit his first one in the second inning, a liner to dead center, then added another in the eighth to right field.
“The first couple of months have been a lot of ups and downs just in my eyes, probably not in other people’s eyes,” Lile said. “It was nice to come through for the team at pretty key moments of the game.”
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