MIAMI — Steven Okert threw 19 pitches for the Miami Marlins in the sixth inning Tuesday night. Nine were nowhere close to the strike zone. Nine others were either just off the plate or inside an edge for the lefty reliever, who was protecting a one-run lead. And one, the seventh and final pitch to Nelson Cruz, was a slider over the plate, something Cruz typically could handle to jolt the Washington Nationals’ offense awake.
At plate, in field, on bases — it all goes wrong for Nats in latest loss
But Cruz swung through it, stranding the bases loaded in an eventual 5-1 loss to the Marlins at LoanDepot Park. The 41-year-old designated hitter dropped to 5 for 36 against left-handed pitchers. Washington, in turn, dropped another series to the Marlins (17-19), who are 5-0 against the Nationals (12-26) and can sweep them again Wednesday.
“He’s a guy who likes to throw the slider,” Cruz said of Okert. “He threw a good one 3-2.”
So was that the pitch he was expecting?
“Yeah, yeah, I mean that’s the pitch that he throws the most. In that situation, definitely he’s going to trust the pitch that he throws the most, and it’s the slider.”
The Nationals couldn’t solve Miami starter Cody Poteet. They couldn’t prey on Okert’s shaky command. They also couldn’t support Joan Adon, who worked 4⅔ innings and was tagged with a double, two dribblers, a well-struck single and Miguel Rojas’s solo homer in the fifth, amounting to one run.
Six of the Nationals’ seven hits were singles, a troubling trend. They have scored two or fewer runs in six of their past eight games. To no surprise, they are 2-6 in those contests, following the simple logic that you can’t win if you don’t score. On top of that, they have often made it harder for themselves with repeated mistakes on the base paths and in the field.
On Tuesday, that was Victor Robles hitting a single to center with one out in the sixth and promptly getting picked off first, clearing the bases before they were loaded and Cruz struck out. The Nationals logged two walks and two hits in the inning and did not push a run across. And an inning later, in the bottom of the seventh, the nightly circus returned with a pair of errors by reliever Erasmo Ramírez.
The first one was quiet, as Ramírez fumbled Erik Gonzalez’s soft grounder after yielding a double to Rojas. Yet the second one, a pickoff attempt to first, triggered the sort of play that has become way too common this season. Ramírez’s throw skipped past Josh Bell and down the right field line, bringing in Rojas. Bell then tried to heroically throw out Gonzalez at third, which went poorly. His throw flew past Maikel Franco, Gonzalez scored from first, and the Marlins’ lead doubled, stunting Washington’s shot at a comeback.
“One, Erasmo’s cleat got stuck — his front leg. It should have been a balk; I thought they were going to call a balk and the play is done,” Manager Dave Martinez said. “He tried to throw the ball because he knew there was a guy on third base. Threw the ball away, and then Josh Bell turned and fired the ball to where he thought [Alcides] Escobar was the [cutoff man], and he just missed everybody. In those situations, we’re trying too hard to create something that’s not there.”
The Nationals have provided two such defensive messes in back-to-back losses here. They finished Tuesday with the same number of losses as the Cincinnati Reds, who traded most of their valuable players before the season and are often called bad for the sport.
Before Soto chopped an infield single in the fourth, the Nationals were 0 for 30 in their past 30 plate appearances against Marlins starters. Sandy Alcantara retired the final 20 batters he faced Monday. Poteet set down the first 10 he saw Tuesday on 30 pitches — which came after ending the third inning at 26. There’s efficiency, and then there’s what Miami’s rotation has done to Washington this week.
When Poteet exited, the Nationals’ only two base-runners were on Soto’s hit and a walk for Yadiel Hernandez. And Soto’s hit traveled one foot, shot into the air and gave him just enough time to beat Jazz Chisholm Jr. ‘s throw.
Poteet entered with a 0.55 ERA in 16⅓ innings as a bulk reliever. A starter last season, he got this turn because Jesús Luzardo, Washington’s former top prospect, is on the injured list with a forearm strain. Miami Manager Don Mattingly pulled Poteet at 54 pitches with two down in the fifth. The Nationals were lucky he wasn’t stretched out for a full start.
But behind Poteet, the Marlins’ bullpen finished the job. Their offense stretched the lead on Jesús Sánchez’s solo homer off Steve Cishek before the Nationals gifted them two runs. Washington’s golden chance was Cruz in a full count with the bases full, back when the game was in reach. Cruz just couldn’t touch the payoff pitch.
“We got to get our big boys to drive in some runs,” Martinez said. “We had opportunities again today and we couldn’t get it done.”
What stood out in Joan Adon’s eighth start? An uptick in fastball velocity. Entering the night, Adon had thrown only one pitch harder than 97 mph this season. But while recording 14 outs against the Marlins, he threw 11 fastballs at 97 mph or higher. He touched 98.1 in the first, his hardest pitch of the season, and threw his four-seamer for 62 of his 84 pitches.
The velocity spike did not lead to more strikeouts for the 23-year-old. Adon notched two, walked none and mostly kept the ball on the ground. His rookie season has included a lot of head-scratching. He had a long bout of tipping his pitches. In his last outing, a 4-1 loss to the New York Mets, he totally lost command and walked five batters. And now he has flashed a next gear of velocity, an encouraging sign.
When did the Nationals last win a series? Between April 29 and May 1, Washington took two of three from the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park. The Nationals have won just two of their 12 series (the other on the road against the Atlanta Braves in early April).
Source: WP
