Sloppy field, sloppy loss:
On a rainy afternoon in the bottom of the ninth inning in the Washington capital, the Washington Nationals were trailing 5-2. San Francisco GiantsThe final game of the series was started earlier than scheduled to avoid an expected storm, but a tenacious Nationals team tied the game at 5-5 and forced it into overtime.
Keivert Lewis walked to start the bottom of the ninth but was forced out at second on a grounder by James Wood, then pinch-hitter Travis Blankenhorn drew his second walk of the inning off Giants right-hander Camilo Doval, but Ildemaro Vargas hit a liner for the second out of the inning.
Luis Garcia Jr. came up next and launched a 97.5 mph, 1-2 fastball into the left zone that just cleared the wall for a three-run homer to tie the game at 5-5. It was Garcia Jr.’s 14th homer of the season.
“I didn’t feel like I was hitting the ball that good,” Garcia told reporters through translator Octavio Martinez. Quote from MASN’s Mark Zuckermanafter the defeat:
“But I saw [Giants’ left fielder Michael] Conforto retreated, retreated, retreated, disappeared into the wall and was seen leaving the stadium.
“I was surprised because I didn’t think there was enough left to take it.”
“We fought back. We were down 5-2 and came back to tie the game, but the game’s not over yet,” manager Davey Martinez said after his team lost a series of poor plays in the ninth and 10th innings.
“Emotions were running high. We had to finish the game. I want our guys to understand that in a situation like this, you’ve got to finish the game, you’ve got to finish strong.”
Nationals closer Kyle Finnegan singled with one out in the ninth, walked two batters and allowed a third run when the catcher failed to cover on a bases-clearing single by Mark Caña. After tying the game, C.J. Abrams made a throwing error trying to get a Giants runner on third base, and Brett Wiseley bunted and singled off reliever Robert Garcia, but on the next play Garcia threw to third base, but Ildemaro Vargas dropped the ball, allowing two more runs off the left-hander to give the visitors a four-run lead at 9-5.
“The last two innings were not good,” Martinez said, citing walks, infield errors and missed opportunities.
“We just played sloppy,” he said. “We were good until things started going wrong. We played in sloppy conditions and we just played sloppy the last two innings.”
But he stressed that the cause was not the weather.
“Both teams played in the same situation. That’s how you have to play and that’s how we played. For whatever reason, we didn’t do that today and we ended up losing points.”
He said his team tried to make something happen rather than taking outs where they could get outs.
“In a game like that, when you have a guy on second base, you just have to concentrate on getting the out,” the captain explained.
“If that guy scores and we only give up one run, we’re in a pretty good position because we’re at home. I think we were a little ahead, I really do. CJ made a terrible throw to third. If he’d gotten the out there at first and not tried to throw the ball behind the runner, we’d be in a better position. Vargas dropped the ball at third, which never happens. I’ve never seen him do that. Our game sped up a little bit. I think we put too much effort into getting outs instead of just playing the game.”
Pros:
Luis Garcia Jr. finished the series finale against the Giants with 2 at bats and 4 hits, saying, “Two outs, two strikes, three runs. [home run]The Nationals had “one stolen base and two runs” in the loss, and in their postgame notes they wrote:[García, Jr.] He has a hit in 11 of his last 14 games… [and] During that time, he has a .385 batting average (20 hits in 52 at-bats), two doubles, one triple, three home runs and 11 RBIs.[s]four walks, seven stolen bases, and nine runs scored.”
James Wood went 1-for-3 with 1 walk, 1 stolen base and 1 run in 5 hours, 28 minutes of play (including a 2 minute, 2 second rain stop), and the 21-year-old rookie “has had a hit in 12 of his last 13 games.”
“During that span, he has a batting average of .348 (16 hits for 46 at-bats), with two doubles, three triples, one home run, 11 RBIs, 11 walks, four stolen bases and 11 runs scored.”
GM and president of baseball operations Mike Rizzo spoke to 106.7 the FAN, broadcast by Washington’s Sports Junkies, this week about Wood’s development in recent weeks since making his MLB debut on July 1.
Photo by Jess Rapfogel/Getty Images
“He’s developed tremendously at the major league level. It’s incredible to see a guy his age do what he does on the ballpark,” Rizzo told Junkies.
“That being said, we knew there would be some growing pains defensively and on the baserunning side of things. Playing a new position and batting against these very tough left-handed pitchers will be a challenge for any left-handed hitter. But he’s made steady, slow progress and I think the precision he’s put into his training is great, and he’s performed great for us. I think this young man has just scratched the surface of his potential.”
