WASHINGTON -- Following their extra-inning win in Houston on Thursday night, the Nationals did not touch down in D.C. until 4 a.m. Friday. Several players didn't get to bed until after 6 a.m. A fatigued bunch reconvened in the home clubhouse hours later at Nationals Park, tasked with trying to take down reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Sandy Alcantara.
While the Nationals overcame multiple two-run deficits and got to Alcantara early, a big night from Miami’s Luis Arraez and a number of self-inflicted wounds from the Nationals allowed Miami to rally for a 6-5 win.
“We were down, we had a good pitcher in there and we came back,” manager Dave Martinez said. “We scored some runs early, we had some opportunities to score again, the bats just couldn’t capitalize.”
Marlins pinch-hitter Garrett Cooper delivered a go-ahead two-out RBI single off reliever Carl Edwards Jr. to give Miami the lead for good in the eighth inning.
With runners on first and second, Nationals shortstop CJ Abrams bobbled Cooper’s hit up the middle, giving lead runner Yuli Gurriel the opportunity to score. Catcher Keibert Ruiz couldn't cleanly handle Abrams’ throw home, allowing Gurriel to slide in safely with the eventual game-winning run.
“I have to really look at it,” Martinez said, “but if you field the ball, if you don’t feel the need to throw it, but just keep it in the infield, that’s a ball he should catch.”
Abrams conceded that he closed his glove too early on the ball.
“Ball hit pretty far,” Abrams said. “I’m trying to keep it on the infield. I don’t know if I had a chance at first or not, but I'm just trying to get him going home. Didn’t complete step two.”
Martinez was also disappointed in the five-pitch, one-out walk Edwards issued to Gurriel that started Miami’s rally.
“We always talk about not walking guys, especially early in innings because it’s going to bite you,” Martinez said. “Overall, I thought we did well, we played well, we kept coming back, we just couldn’t score any runs at the end.”
The game ultimately came down to a sequence in the eighth inning, speaking to the Nationals' ability to claw their way back early. Trailing 2-0 in the first inning, Lane Thomas hit a leadoff homer in a two-run bottom half.
Down 5-3 in the fourth, Abrams and Thomas hit back-to-back RBI doubles to tie the game at 5. Thomas, who entered play 0-for-15 lifetime against Alcantara with nine strikeouts, went 2-for-3 against the Marlins ace with the homer and run-scoring double.
From there, though, the Nationals could never get the elusive go-ahead run. Alcantara was charged with five earned runs in 5 1/3 innings, one more run than he had allowed against the Nationals across five starts and 40 innings last season. But the Nationals bats went quiet against three left-handed Miami relievers.
“We chased,” Martinez said. “I think that’s the biggest thing. We had runners [in scoring position] and that’s when the pressure is on the pitcher. It shouldn’t be on the hitter. We have to swing at better pitches. We started chasing right away, put ourselves in bad counts. Runners on [second] base with less than two outs, we have to have better at-bats.”
Starter Trevor Williams grinded through 4 1/3 innings, allowing seven hits and five runs with three walks and two strikeouts. Williams needed 50 pitches to navigate through the first two frames in what was his second shortest outing of the season.
“When the guys put up a fight like they did today for us, it was really turning into a slugfest between me and Alcantara," Williams said. "But I really have to do a better job with the shutdown innings.”
Williams was especially disappointed with the two-out, two-run homer he allowed to Arraez in the second.
“We had a chance in the second inning to get out of [a jam],” Williams said. “That's when I had to put my foot down and not allow Arraez to hit the two-run homer. But for us to come back and put up a bunch of runs against Alcantara was good for us. Truly. Especially after a long travel day for the guys last night and for them to do what they did with the fight was great to see. As far as the process goes, it's good for us to fight and to push.”