BALTIMORE – Given the negative developments that have taken place in the previous hours since arriving at Camden Yards for 1 4/9 baseball games, the Citizens would have been an excuse if they all threw their hands in disgust at the sight of Stephen Strasburg ran down the mound with a trainer at the bottom of the first and decided to pack it up for the rest of the night.
An early season of injuries, delays and foul play had now taken one of its aces off, who appears to be suffering from a recurrence of the nerve problem in his right hand that prevented him from making his first two starts of 2020. The Nats had every right to be down in the dumps.
And then Erick Fedde took over for Strasburg and turned into what might as well have been a quality start as a helper. And a lineup reinforced by the addition of 20-year-old infielder Luis García enjoyed continued success against the Orioles pitching staff en route to a 15-3 ladder en route.
It was a very unexpected positive twist to close what had been a dry day and night for the Nationals, who somehow came out of it with a 7-10 record and Patrick Corbin en Max Scherzer put on the rest of the weekend.
“It was tough,” manager Davey Martinez said of the day as a whole during his Zoom session with reporters after the game. “We lose our starting second baseman and a half game, and then Stephen goes down. But you know what, it turned out very well. We got a victory. We’ll be back tomorrow and do it again. ”
This had already been a long and disappointing day for the Nationals, who lost the finished part of the suspenseful game they played, then lost second baseman Starlin Castro to a broken right wrist. Throws in about two hours of rain delay before the regularly scheduled nightstand could begin, and it’s fair to ask how many people in the visiting clubhouse at Camden Yards were in a good mood.
And then it got worse. Strasburg did not look very good from the get-go, his fastball recorded 91-92 mph, his command off. He served up a towering home run to Anthony Santander who came on the flag court outside the right field wall, giving the Orioles an early 1-0 lead.
And then Strasburg shook after the throw to José Iglesias, his right hand. His next pitch, a curveball, bounced in the dirt. And by the time he fell behind 2-0 to clear hitter Rio Ruiz, it was clear something was wrong.
“I looked at him,” Martinez said. “Honestly, I did not like what I saw.”
That Martinez and athletic training director Paul Lessard went to the mound to check on the 32-year-old ace, and moments later Lessard returned to the dugout with the brave pitcher, done after just 16 pitches.
Strasburg had in fact to deal with a return of pain in his right hand that sidelined him at the start of the season. The Nationals do not know a direct course of action for their pitcher of $ 245 million, but it will not upset him if he is 100 percent healthy again.
“We need to take a really good look at this and see what happens in the coming days,” Martinez said. ‘I will not execute him like that. He was overwhelmed. He wanted to be there. But I will not get him through there. He is one of our best. To see him come out that way, I appreciated it, we all did. But we have to take care of him. ”
Strasburg refused to speak to reporters after the game, typically a standard practice for any novice pitcher. A club spokesman said he would one day speak that he had a clearer understanding of his condition and a plan for his recovery.
As worried as he was about Strasburg, Martinez also had to worry about what was now required of his bullpen: 25 outs just hours after this group had to record eight outs to complete the stoppage game, on the heels of back-to -back short start in New York by Aníbal Sánchez en Austin Voth.
Little did he know that Fedde would provide for himself a large chunk of the workload.
The right-hander, who admits he is accustomed to the idea of saving anywhere, if and when needed, is the first for Strasburg. Then he really came under pressure.
Fedde grabbed a scoreless second, a scoreless third, a scoreless fourth, a scoreless fifth and a scoreless sixth. Yes, those are 5 1/3 scoreless innings of two-hit ball on at least 69 pitches. Only two days after throwing 32 pitches in relief. That would qualify as the sixth-longest start by the Nationals this season, if it was a start.
“When you get that chance, just see it as trying to be efficient, help the guys in the bullshit and go as far as I could,” Fedde said. ‘I actually felt pretty good. I think that is uncharted territory for me, in a sense. I had absolutely not expected 5 1/3, but luckily I was able to be really efficient and get through it. ”
It was all the Nats needed and more, and it could use Martinez’s bullpen the more of the conventional way.
It also helped that the Nationals eventually underwent an offensive attack against Tommy Milone, who a week earlier had sent off more than six innings. Not this time. They scored a couple in the second then Yan Gomes’ sinking liner to the right scooted past a diving Santander for the first triple catcher in four years.
And then they kept going. Four singles – including García’s first career hit, a heel Juan Soto-sque single to the opposite field – produced three more runs in the third. Two singles and two sacrifices brought another run home in the fourth and made it 6-1 against Milone.
Asdrúbal Cabrera’s leadoff homer in the seventh from a lefty – his sixth extra-base hit in 16 at-bats against Southpaws this season – kept the attack going. And a six-run top of the eighth that doubled García’s first career and two RBIs put a definite stamp on a day that had too many grueling moments, but still ended with a satisfying victory.
“I was very excited and thank God for the opportunity to play here in the big leagues,” García said through interpreter Octavio Martinez. ‘A moment I only dreamed of. After I got the base hit, I even relaxed more than I was to begin with. I was very excited to help the team win today. ”
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