Manager Blake Butera is ejected as Washington’s late-season struggles continue.
Since the Aug. 3 trade deadline, the Washington Nationals have appeared to hit rock bottom multiple times. Tuesday’s loss to the San Diego Padres, when they blew their MLB-record 38th save, is a strong contender.
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Wednesday’s contest is another challenger for that title. The Nationals lost a 2-0 lead, allowing the host Padres to score nine unanswered runs and win the series finale, 9-2. With the loss, the Nationals (67-81) not only dropped their seventh straight game, but ended their West Coast road trip 0-6.
Defensively, Washington was sloppy, with their inexperience and recent position changes evident. Offensively, they failed to get on base twice after the third inning. And on the mound, starter Jackson Kent couldn’t even get through four innings. With all of it, frustrations boiled over and Manager Blake Butera — who has prided himself in his ability to contain his emotions — was ejected in the third inning.
The game didn’t start off on a bad note. In the third inning, Keibert Ruiz hit a solo home run, his 10th of the season, to give the Nationals a 1-0 lead. Nasim Nuñez walked, then stole his 46th base. Jacob Young singled, and James Wood walked to load the bases with no outs against veteran starter Walker Buehler.
Buehler was able to get Andrés Chaparro to pop out for one out before he was pulled, his day ending after 2⅓ innings. For most teams, pulling a starter that early could lead to trouble. Not for the Padres. San Diego’s bullpen has a 3.46 ERA, the fifth lowest in MLB.
So with Kyle Hart now on the mound, the Nationals’ hopes of adding to their lead quickly faded. Hart struck out CJ Abrams, then retired Yohandy Morales to end the inning.
And just like that, all of the Nationals’ momentum was gone. With one out in the the third inning, Fernando Tatís Jr. singled. After Kent got Xander Bogaerts to fly out for the second out, Manny Machado walked.
After a questionable checked swing call allowed the at-bat to continue, Ty France singled to bring in one run to cut the Nationals’ lead to 2-1. Then Jackson Merrill hit a deep flyball, with Young colliding with the wall as he tried to make the play. Young fell to the ground, and Merrill turned it into a triple as two runs scored and the Padres took a 3-2 lead.
Butera came out to argue with first base umpire Emil Jimenez over the France checked swing and was ejected for the second time this season. The other time occurred on Aug. 3, the day of the trade deadline that saw the Nationals send away three key clubhouse fixtures.
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“I thought France swung,” Butera told reporters. “That was a big spot in the game, thought it should have been strike three to get us out of the inning. Obviously didn’t call it, wasn’t the last out of the inning. Wanted to stand up for these guys.”
With bench coach Michael Johns in charge, the spiral continued. Austin Hays singled to open the fourth inning, and Samad Taylor was able to turn a sacrifice bunt, intended to advance Hays to second base, into an RBI. Kent tried to flip it to Abrams, who is still new to playing second base, but it instead went down the first base line. Kent was credited with the error, and that ended his day with no outs in the fourth.
“I thought his first two innings were good,” Butera told reporters about Kent’s start. “Obviously the next couple were not. Just struggled to put guys away. I think the strike three to France wasn’t able to bounce back after that.”
Brad Lord took over from there. Tatis hit an RBI single to make it 5-2 Padres, and an inning later Merrill hit a two-run home run. Luis Perales allowed one run in two innings, and Eddy Yean also gave up one run in an inning of work.
The Nationals now head back to the East Coast, where they’ll host the struggling Los Angeles Angels for three games beginning on Friday.
Butera said that even as the Nationals’ performance has dipped over the last month, they’ve still come to the stadium with energy every day. They’re frustrated, Butera admitted, but they know they still have 14 games to try to end the season on a better note.
“You don’t want to waste games,” Butera told reporters. “Every game is an opportunity to get better and grow. If we’re not taking it that way, then it’s a chance to take a step backward, and that’s what we can’t have.”
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