Starters' inability to provide length keeping relief corps on their toes

In the early stages of a stretch of 17 games in 17 days that began on Friday, the Nationals’ starting pitchers have been trying to give the team length when they take the mound.

Right-hander Cade Cavalli was cognizant of the pitching staff’s workload as he approached his fourth start of the season on Monday at PNC Park.

“That's on the forefront of our mind, for sure,” Cavalli said on Sunday in Milwaukee. “We'd love to go six or seven, have them take eight, nine. Hopefully one of us can throw a [complete game], that’d be great. But we’re just trying to make it easier on the bullpen.”

But Cavalli was pulled after just 1 1/3 innings in a 16-5 loss to the Pirates that snapped the Nationals’ three-game winning streak. Cavalli allowed four runs off three hits and three walks while striking out two. His pitch count rose to 48 (24 of them strikes).

“You could tell he was frustrated he couldn’t get in the zone, just wasn’t able to find it tonight,” manager Blake Butera told reporters after the game. “The first inning was good. It was just really when we went back out there for the second, he was just fighting himself, couldn’t get in there.”

Facing a pitchers’ duel with reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Paul Skenes, Cavalli wanted to be aggressive, driven by the Nationals’ emphasis of pitching on the attack. A key to that?

“I think the most important thing about being on the attack is getting strike one,” Cavalli said this weekend. “I think that 0-1 to 1-0 changes the numbers drastically.”

Of the 12 Pirates batters he faced, Cavalli threw a first-pitch strike to four of them, including Oneil Cruz twice. Three of those came in the first inning. In the second frame, though, he pitched from behind in six of the seven at-bats.

"He had trouble getting ahead of hitters,” Butera told reporters. “[He] was out of the zone an uncharacteristic amount. It just looked like he was fighting himself a little bit. The stuff was normal, there wasn't anything there that dropped off. It was just more so he just couldn't find the zone."

Cavalli, Washington’s Opening Day starter, dropped to 0-1 with a 4.60 ERA in four starts.

In the past four games, the Nationals’ rotation has thrown 16 2/3 innings (Jake Irvin 5, Foster Griffin 5 1/3, Zack Littell 5, Cavalli 1 1/3). During this span, the Nats have made 15 calls to the bullpen -- not including outfielder Joey Wiemer pitching the eighth inning on Monday.

While this bullpen usage came during a three-game sweep of the Brewers, their arms were affected along the way.

Southpaw Ken Waldichuk exited Sunday’s game with left forearm tightness, and he was placed on the 15-day IL on Monday. As Butera told reporters on Monday, “The initial read for us is not good.”

There is a possibility Waldichuk could face his second Tommy John surgery since 2023.

The Nats also lost right-hander Cole Henry to the 15-day IL with a right rotator cuff strain on Monday, and recalled righties Orlando Ribalta and Jackson Rutledge to fill the vacancies. But Rutledge was already optioned back to Triple-A Rochester on Monday night after allowing seven runs in 1 1/3 innings against the Pirates.

The Nationals will look for a deeper start from Miles Mikolas on Tuesday. The veteran righty pitched only three innings in his most recent start, against the Cardinals on Wednesday. He is 0-3 with a 12.41 ERA in three starts this season.