Cavalli finds footing after shaky 1st to strike out 6 in 5-plus innings

WASHINGTON – The game could have gotten out of hand quickly for Cade Cavalli. But the right-hander has learned how to harness his focus and turn a rocky first inning into an outing of growth.

“What was looking like a long first couple innings with the pitch count, he was able to get it back down those next few innings,” said manager Blake Butera.

Cavalli labored in the first inning of the Nationals’ 7-3 loss to the Marlins, beginning with a lead-off walk and facing seven Miami batters before the third out.

Cavalli issued three free bases – including a bases-loaded walk that brought in a run – and allowed one hit across 24 pitches.

The walks were uncharacteristic of Cavalli, who had given up a total of four walks in his last four starts. In May, his 5.6 percent walk rate ranked 13th among qualified NL pitchers (min. 40 IP).

“I think I just wasn’t landing the fastball in the upper half of the zone like I was, I was just missing up,” Cavalli said. “In that case, you get behind and you’ve got to land some pitches. We fought hard, got in a groove there, and we had a chance to win the ballgame.”

Although Cavalli did not allow a run in the second inning, his pitch count rose to 46, escalated by a 10-pitch battle with Joe Mack that resulted in a single.

“[He] had to work really hard to get out of it,” Butera said. “Fortunately, he found a way to get out of that first one with just one [run], and those next handful not giving up any runs. He did a nice job of settling in there and gave our offense a chance to get the lead there. He got us into the sixth inning, which was nice after the way it started.”

Cavalli convened with pitching coach Simon Mathews between innings to strategize. When Cavalli went back out on the field for the third, a flip had switched.

“I think it was more of a mental thing of let’s get into attack mode and quit trying to miss bats in the upper half,” Cavalli said. “Instead, let’s pitch to some contact and get in the zone and attack that way.”

Cavalli retired the side on Xavier Edwards’ groundout to first base, a Leo Jiménez ground out to shortstop and a four-pitch strikeout against Owen Caissie.

Cavalli kept the momentum going in the fourth, where he needed only seven pitches to throw a 1-2-3 inning. He got Jakob Marsee to pop out to shortstop, Mack to ground out to first base and then struck out Connor Norby on three pitches.

“[He had] three walks in that first inning, and then he didn’t have any the rest of the way,” said Butera. “I think he just attacked the zone a little bit better, whether it was mechanics, timing, not sure exactly, but he looked like he was in more of a rhythm after those first couple innings and settled in there.”

After a rocky start to his outing, Cavalli completed five innings, allowing just one hit (an Otto Lopez double) to four batters in the frame. He faced the first batter in the sixth, and exited after giving up a single to Jiménez on his 89th pitch of the night.

Cavalli walked off the mound with a 3-2 lead and a runner on first. The Nationals called on the bullpen for matchups, but they were not able to hold on.

Against the first batter southpaw Richard Lovelady faced, he allowed a game-tying home run to right-handed pinch-hitter Heriberto Hernández that drove in Jiménez. Lovelady also gave up the go-ahead RBI double to Norby that inning.

“[Cavalli] wants the ball, he wants to be out there, of course,” Butera said. “But we would have been getting [into tough] territory if we stuck with him the rest of that inning. Given the fact that it was a bunch of lefties right there in a row, that was, I thought, the time to do it.”

The game was put out of reach when Cole Henry was hit for three runs on 32 pitches in the ninth.

“Cavalli’s a good pitcher,” said Marlins manager Clayton McCullough. “He’s having a nice year, and we’ve seen ourselves -- on a number of occasions against some real starting pitching -- be able to really grind guys down, get them out of the game at a point where we’ve got three or four innings with the bullpen to take your shots.”