{"id":1124,"date":"2026-05-22T06:34:51","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T06:34:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=1124"},"modified":"2026-05-22T06:34:51","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T06:34:51","slug":"cavallis-solid-start-is-not-enough-as-nationals-lose-finale-to-mets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=1124","title":{"rendered":"Cavalli\u2019s solid start is not enough as Nationals lose finale to Mets"},"content":{"rendered":"

Washington earns a series split as its offense is shut down by New York starter David Peterson.<\/strong><\/p>

Read more Guardians beat Tigers 3-1 for a 6th straight win and series sweep<\/a><\/p>\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n
Starter Cade Cavalli pitched a season-high seven innings in the Nationals’ 2-1 loss to the Mets. (Nick Wass\/Ap Photo\/Nick Wass)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

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\u2019s been with Cade Cavalli\u2019s ability to stay in control in tense situations.<\/p>\n

\u201cSeems like each outing is getting better and better,\u201d Butera said.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The Nationals still walked away with a series split after winning Tuesday and Wednesday\u2019s games, and head into a six-game road trip against the Atlanta Braves and Cleveland Guardians with a 25-26 record.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think overall, felt like we had a chance to win all of them,\u201d Butera said. \u201cProud of the way guys fought today. … Thought we had a few opportunities, not a lot, but just didn\u2019t get that big hit with runners in scoring position.\u201d<\/p>\n

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 Nu\u00f1ez, allowing Melendez and Torrens to score.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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\u2019 dugout, braving the incoming storms, gave him a standing ovation.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>

Read more Canadiens pounce as Hurricanes emerge from long playoff break with breakdowns, miscues<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was good, able to help out the bullpen,\u201d Cavalli said. \u201cWe\u2019re looking forward to getting after it next series and have some guys fresh and healthy, ready to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

The offense, meanwhile, didn\u2019t have the same spunk. They\u2019re 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\u2019t have the same success.<\/p>\n

\n
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Daylen Lile strikes out with the bases loaded in the first inning. (Greg Fiume\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

\u201cI just thought his stuff overall was better,\u201d Butera said of Peterson\u2019s outing. \u201cHe pitched backwards, he mixed speeds, the fastball played up because of that. We just couldn\u2019t string together some at-bats.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Nationals had chances. They loaded the bases in the first inning, Andr\u00e9s Chaparro, Abrams and Crews all walking with two outs, but Daylen Lile struck out to end the inning.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s all they produced on this afternoon.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was just attacking our weaknesses,\u201d Lile said of Peterson, who exited after the fifth inning. \u201cHe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

That set the Nationals up with one last opportunity in the bottom of the ninth, and they got a lucky break when Ewing couldn\u2019t catch a flyball off the bat of Lile. Lile ended up with a double, then advanced to third on a groundout from Luis Garc\u00eda Jr. The Nationals, though, still couldn\u2019t find the hit when they needed it.<\/p>

Read more Corbin Carroll lines RBI single in 9th, Diamondbacks knock off Rockies 2-1 for 5th straight win<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Washington earns a series split as its offense is shut down by New York starter David Peterson.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1121,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nCavalli\u2019s solid start is not enough as Nationals lose finale to Mets - Moving Insider USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=1124\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cavalli\u2019s solid start is not enough as Nationals lose finale to Mets - Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Washington earns a series split as its offense is shut down by New York starter David Peterson.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=1124\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-22T06:34:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/67d0dd8ad9a3af0d699524430a39b7b4-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1124#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1124\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"headline\":\"Cavalli\u2019s solid start is not enough as Nationals lose finale to Mets\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-22T06:34:51+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1124\"},\"wordCount\":798,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1124#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/821ac9a8487d9abd13b66f965358dbf0-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1124#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1124\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1124\",\"name\":\"Cavalli\u2019s solid start is not enough as Nationals lose finale to Mets - 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