The Washington Nationals aren’t known to launch homers or tear the cover off the baseball. Their starters don’t usually stymie or fluster or bamboozle opposing line-ups, nor does their bullpen typically hold leads long enough to save them — but in game two of their series against our Giants, the visitors, rather rudely, played out of character.
A day after San Francisco knocked around Jake Irvin and teamed up to shutout the Washington bats, the Nats nearly returned the favor.
Contact off of southpaw starter Carson Whisenhunt came early and often and was very, very loud. Three pitches into the afternoon James Wood back-spun a sinker at the top over the zone for a lead-off homer that left his bat at 106 MPH.
Generally, a solo shot won’t lose you a game — but three might.
Paul DeJong (#foreverGiant) and Josh Bell went back-to-back in the 3rd, both turning Whisenhunt fastballs into heat-seeking bleacher missiles. Bell’s and DeJong’s bullets rounded up to 108 on the radar gun and padded Washington’s lead nicely. All in all, the Nationals team xBA for the game was .354 with 12 balls in play that eclipsed the 103 MPH exit velocity mark.
Comparatively, the San Francisco offense was as quiet as church mice. Their meekness due in large part to the mound presence of Nationals starter Brad Lord, who we learned, giveth little and taketh a lot.
The right-hander’s low arm angle generated mid-90s velocity and a lot of armside movement on his fastball heavy mix that the Giants just couldn’t get comfortable against. There wasn’t much swing-thru at all, but the Giants hitters played spectator on a fair share of called strikes, nor could they figure out a way to get barrel to much of Lord’s offerings.
San Francisco’s first knock of the day didn’t come until two outs in the 3rd, and “knock” is a technical term, not an apt descriptor of Andrew Knizner’s dribbler off the bat. Heliot Ramos followed with a single and Rafael Devers loaded the bases with a walk, but Lord sold Willy Adames on a fastball with a deceptive arm-action but served up a wicked offspeed instead to bag the K and end the rally.
That two-out action was about all San Francisco managed. Devers provided the team’s first and only loud contact against the Nationals’ starter with a solo shot to lead off the 6th. A lightening bolt in itself, but no storm followed. Lord answered by striking out Dom Smith and Matt Chapman to close out six solid frames.
With Lord finally off the mound and resting on his laurels, the Giants had their chances against a poor Washington bullpen, who are not used to protecting a lead nor protecting a lead when those rare opportunities do come around. Before first pitch, their relievers boasted a 5.90 ERA (the highest in the Majors), and opponents hitting .277 off them. Yet on Saturday afternoon, those beleaguered arms gave a little, but held the line.
Down 4-1 in the 8th, Giants managed just one run after loading the bases with one-out against reliever Cole Henry. Pinch hitter Wilmer Flores drove a liner out to left-center that scored one easily — but down by a crooked number with the supply of outs dwindling, a clutch hit was what was needed. Flores couldn’t come through, nor could Matt Chapman, who went down swinging on a 99 MPH challenge fastball from Jose A. Ferrer.
A lead-off infield single by Jung Hoo Lee in the 9th provided more comeback opportunities. Casey Schmitt rocketed a pitch into the pocket in left center but the defense was pinched in that direction — what would’ve been extra bases went into the book as a consequential first out. Christian Koss singled on the next pitch to bring the winning run to the box in Patrick Bailey, but the catcher couldn’t replicate some of his recent high-leverage success, grounding into a 5-4-3 double play to end the game.
Good things did happen. Call them small blessings that you could try and count to distract yourself from the disappointment of not-sweeping a very sweepable team.
Ramos extended his on-base streak to 22 games, going 2-for-4. Dom Smith logged his 13th game with a hit with his 4th inning double. Devers continues to rocket the ball and appears to be getting more comfortable exploring the home confines of Oracle. He reached base four times in this one with two hits and two walks, and has now homered in back-to-back home games. Adames was quiet with the bat, but flashed purple leather in the 8th with a flashy snap tag to nab Jacob Young trying to steal second and balletic on-the-run, spin-throw to get Daylen Lile.
Hitless in 6 at-bats with runners in scoring position — that’s the game right there for the Giants. Seven runners left stranded, wandering in the desert of the base paths, waiting in vain for the hit to bring them home.