{"id":7105,"date":"2026-07-12T08:04:25","date_gmt":"2026-07-12T08:04:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=7105"},"modified":"2026-07-12T08:04:25","modified_gmt":"2026-07-12T08:04:25","slug":"same-old-story-nationals-blow-a-lead-fall-to-yankees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=7105","title":{"rendered":"Same old story: Nationals blow a lead, fall to Yankees"},"content":{"rendered":"

This time, two reliable relievers were to blame.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n
Clayton Beeter of the Washington Nationals hands the ball to Blake Butera during Saturday’s game against the New York Yankees. (Jess Rapfogel\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

It\u2019s already an all-too-familiar tale. The Washington Nationals have the lead in the late innings. Then the game shifts to the bullpen, and poof \u2014 it\u2019s gone.<\/p>

Read more Nationals\u2019 Foster Griffin goes from Japan to the All-Star Game<\/a><\/p>\n

Orlando Ribalta and Clayton Beeter were the culprits Saturday at Nationals Park as Washington fell, 4-2, to the New York Yankees. After their 27th blown save of the season, the Nationals (48-48) must win Sunday\u2019s series finale to avoid a sweep and head into the all-star break above .500.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told the guys after the game … all we\u2019re going to do is keep going,\u201d Manager Blake Butera said. \u201cThis is as resilient a group as I\u2019ve seen. They\u2019ve been through a lot already, just in the first half, and they seem to turn the page and come out ready to play the next day no matter what.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Friday night\u2019s 5-3 loss, a questionable decision backfired on Butera. With Washington ahead by one run in the ninth inning, the rookie manager put in left-hander Matt Krook, who had a career ERA over 15.00, choosing to leverage traditional platoon splits instead of using a right-handed reliever who has pitched in high-leverage situations.<\/p>\n

After Krook gave up a go-ahead two-run homer, Butera said the Nationals were reconsidering their process but that they still trust it, even though \u201cwe keep getting burned.\u201d<\/p>\n

So on Saturday, Washington did stray from picking a lefty to face a lefty pocket in the eighth inning, instead turning to its two most reliable relievers. A better process yielded the same result.<\/p>\n

With a 2-0 lead in the eighth, Ribalta gave up a solo home run to Ryan McMahon. He then walked Ben Rice before the game was handed to Beeter, who was promptly taken deep by Trent Grisham and Paul Goldschmidt to make it 4-2 Yankees.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to give our best relievers a shot to help us win the game,\u201d Butera said. \u201cIt didn\u2019t go our way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beeter gave up a double to Cody Bellinger and then was pulled for Krook, who this time was able to get the last five outs without allowing any runs. By then, though, the damage was already done.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the moment, we\u2019re all competitors. We know how to get into a competitive mode out there,\u201d Beeter said. \u201cDefinitely stings a lot worse afterwards because of what\u2019s been going on.\u201d<\/p>\n

With Brad Lord on the injured list, Beeter and Ribalta are the Nationals\u2019 top bullpen arms. Even they weren\u2019t able to get the job done, showcasing just how dire the bullpen situation is<\/a> for this team. The unit had a 5.05 ERA entering Saturday.<\/p>

Read more Conor McGregor suffers early knee injury in return, loses to Max Holloway at UFC 329<\/a><\/p>\n

With the trade deadline nearing<\/a>, the front office has an opportunity to add tested pitchers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey know,\u201d Butera said. \u201cThey\u2019re watching every game. They understand. They know how frustrated we are. Look, that\u2019s kind of out of my hands. My job is to do the best job I possibly can with what we have, and that\u2019s what I\u2019m going to keep doing no matter what.\u201d<\/p>\n

The current situation isn\u2019t entirely on the coaching staff or front office. They inherited a weak bullpen when they took over in October \u2014 the unit had a 5.59 ERA last season, the highest in MLB. But the new group also decided not to sign any relievers to major league contracts, instead opting to spend money on new technology, player development and an expanded coaching staff, all of which have contributed to Washington\u2019s unexpected success. <\/b><\/p>\n

Now that the Nationals are in a position to contend, the bullpen\u2019s weakness has become a main focus. While the team has added relievers through waiver claims and cash considerations trades, no one has made a significant difference.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was the decision that we made, and it\u2019s obviously one that I think a lot about given how the current year has gone,\u201d President of Baseball Operations Paul Toboni said Saturday of the decision not to sign a reliever. \u201cBut also I don\u2019t want to say all that while implying that I don\u2019t have hope and trust and belief in our current group, because I do.\u201d<\/p>\n

And while the eighth-inning pitching will get the blame for the loss, the offense had its chances. James Wood hit a home run in the first inning to give the Nationals a 1-0 lead. It was his ninth leadoff homer, matching Alfonso Soriano\u2019s 2006 mark for the most in a single season. Two batters later, Curtis Mead followed with a long shot of his own.<\/p>\n

That was all the scoring for the Nationals. They loaded the bases in the fourth and seventh innings, but those ended with Nasim Nu\u00f1ez popping up the first pitch he saw and CJ Abrams striking out. All told, Washington left nine men on base and went 0 for 5 with runners in scoring position.<\/p>\n

The rest of the pitching staff did its job. PJ Poulin served as the opener, letting the first two hitters he faced reach base but nothing more in 1\u2154 innings. Miles Mikolas came out of the bullpen via the bullpen cart, as has been his tradition when being used after an opener, and allowed four hits and one walk while eating up four innings.<\/p>\n

Tom Cosgrove was acquired last week from the Houston Astros in exchange for cash considerations and was added to the active roster for this series to face the Yankees\u2019 heavily packed left-handed lineup. He did his job Friday, recording two outs in his Nationals debut, and followed that Saturday by retiring all four batters he faced<\/p>

Read more Lindsey Graham, longtime South Carolina senator, dies at 71, his office says<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Washington’s 4-2 loss to New York was an example of how dire the bullpen situation is for the Nats. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7103,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nSame old story: Nationals blow a lead, fall to Yankees - 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=7105\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Same old story: Nationals blow a lead, fall to Yankees - Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Washington's 4-2 loss to New York was an example of how dire the bullpen situation is for the Nats.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=7105\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-12T08:04:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/7e061d32e46476c516f40c0a5073f947-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=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=7105#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=7105\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"headline\":\"Same old story: Nationals blow a lead, fall to Yankees\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-12T08:04:25+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=7105\"},\"wordCount\":1010,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=7105#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/7bf6a96ad83e0e5480f8888b2e9d965f-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=7105#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=7105\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=7105\",\"name\":\"Same old story: Nationals blow a lead, fall to Yankees - 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