Kent battles adversity in second big league start

ARLINGTON -- Every Major League start is a major learning experience for a young prospect as unseasoned as Nationals lefty Jackson Kent. There’s no predetermined lesson plan, of course, but his first two classes have been about composure.

He passed the first test last week, with a successful MLB debut at Nationals Park against the Cubs, his hometown team growing up in suburban Chicago. On Tuesday, he faced -- but didn’t ace -- another test in a 5-0 loss to the Rangers, showing resilience in withstanding a luckless third inning that could have ended his outing early.

“He's got to learn on the job a little bit,” manager Blake Butera said of Kent, who was 9-4 with a 3.72 ERA and 105 strikeouts in 20 combined starts in Double-A and Triple-A before being promoted earlier this month. “He pitched great in the Minor Leagues and in Triple-A, and this is different.”

Kent allowed five earned runs on eight hits, walking three, in 3 2/3 innings. He gave up two hits apiece to Wyatt Langford and Corey Seager, the top two hitters in the Rangers’ order, but retired those two in short order the third time he faced them.

Kent said it “felt good, for sure” to get those two out in the fourth inning, but wasn’t particularly satisfied with his command overall.

“I think I just need to be better, when I get ahead of guys, [at] putting them away,” said Kent, the Nationals’ No. 9 prospect according to MLB Pipeline.

The two-strike count that hurt him most was a 1-2 changeup to Justin Foscue, the eighth pitch of the at-bat in the second inning, that Foscue drove 400 feet to left field for a solo homer.

Walks have been a notable issue in Kent’s first two outings -- he has walked eight in 7 2/3 innings -- although none of the three hitters he walked Tuesday scored.

“When you get hit like that early on in the game, I think you try to maybe be a little fine with pitches and get out of the zone a little bit more because of that -- understandably so,” Butera said. “So I think right now we're going to focus on what pitches he can go to, which secondary pitches he can go to when guys are on the fastball. That's something he's going to have to learn as we finish out these next few weeks.”

Kent was tagged for three runs in the third inning as the Rangers sent nine men to the plate. To start the frame, he allowed a single to Langford and a double to Seager, putting runners on second and third.

With one out, Kent succeeded in getting Brandon Nimmo to hit a hard grounder to second baseman Jorbit Vivas, but the Nats just missed getting the out at home on an extremely close play at the plate. The ball beat Langford home, but catcher Harry Ford’s tag was perhaps a millisecond late. After a lengthy replay review, the safe call stood, and Kent then walked the next two hitters, the latter with the bases loaded.

Kent got a popup for the second out, and then yet again made a good pitch when he needed to, as Cody Freeman hit a sharp grounder to third base that could’ve ended the inning. But the ball took a tough hop on third baseman Brady House, who got a glove on it but couldn’t corral it. Another run scored, and it was test time again for Kent: with the bases loaded, would he allow himself to be chased from the game or would he leave it on his own terms?

To answer that question, Kent struck out Evan Carter looking. That earned him a chance to come back in the fourth inning, when he faced the same two hitters who put him on his heels at the beginning of the previous inning. This time, Kent retired Langford and Seager on flyouts to left.

On to the next lesson.

“In between starts is going to be so important for him with our pitching coaches, just to continue to educate and learn and figure out how to navigate a Major League lineup,” Butera said.