WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Ideally, the Nationals hoped Cade Cavalli would pitch into the fourth inning on Friday.
They wanted the right-hander to get built up in his second Spring Training start, but not at the expense of a high pitch count. Cavalli is preparing for his first full season in the Majors after a three-year comeback from Tommy John surgery. The coaching staff was ready to balance his workload should innings go long.
“It’s all managing where he's at, making sure the stuff's where we want it to be,” manager Blake Butera said before the game. “We're not going to force him to do four if he uses a lot of pitches, or if we just want to shut him down.”
Cavalli breezed through the first two innings by retiring six Astros in a row. He ran into a bases-loaded jam in the third, then recovered to complete four frames on just 51 pitches. Cavalli recorded six strikeouts, allowed one run off one hit, and did not issue a walk. After that, he threw another inning in the bullpen to build up to five in his progression.
“I thought he was awesome, really awesome,” Butera said. “Nothing but great things to say. He was outstanding.”
Cavalli reached 98.6 mph (a putaway pitch to fan Astros No. 12 prospect Lucas Spence), averaged 96.9 mph on his fastball and located 33 of his pitches for strikes. He also incorporated his new sweeper, which he used to strike out Cam Smith.
“The fastball, going in and out, up and down with it,” Cavalli said of his efficiency. “I have a sinker as well, so that to righties, they have to kind of honor both of the shapes. The curveball wasn't my best today, and that's something that I can go work on this week, kind of clean that up.”
Cavalli was in command from the start. Working in tandem with catcher Riley Adams, he struck out five of his first six batters. The only two balls put in play the first two innings were a popout and groundout to second base.
“I thought we did a really good job locating the fastball and using the different shapes to get them off of it, get some weak contact, freeze a couple of guys on a heater down in the zone,” Cavalli said. “A lot of times I work up on the upper line, so we were able to go down, get a freeze strike three, and it was good.”
Butera values consistency, and Cavalli stayed cool when he ran into traffic in the third inning. The Astros loaded the bases on a fielding error by CJ Abrams and two bunt hits allowed by Cavalli to bring nine-time All-Star Jose Altuve to the plate. Cavalli induced a double play and then got slugger Yordan Alvarez to fly out, limiting the damage to one run.
“I treated [bases loaded] just like I treat every at-bat,” Cavalli said. “I did want to go for a punchout there, but in order to get a punchout, you have to get ahead. I wanted to either get a punchout or weak contact, try to roll a double play, minimize damage. We went sinker-in to Altuve, firm in there, and got the double play. I saw Alvarez coming up the next AB, and Riley made a great call on a changeup. We executed it and got a popout and out of the inning.”
In two official Grapefruit League outings, Cavalli has pitched six scoreless innings with one hit, one walk and seven strikeouts. He made his Spring Training debut on Feb. 24, against the Cardinals. In between then and Friday’s start, he threw four innings in an intrasquad game.
If Cavalli were to continue pitching every five days, the schedule would line him up for Opening Day on March 26 at Wrigley Field. Butera said the team is “not quite there yet” to announce the Opening Day starter.
“I feel grateful that I'm healthy and that I get to compete for this team, grateful for the staff and for the defense and the catcher for helping me have success today on the field,” Cavalli said. “I'm just excited. I love competing, so whenever I get a chance to do that, I'm excited and grateful.”