Washington Nationals news & notes: Jackson Rutledge returns; Nats beat Brewers, 5-2 in series opener…

Rutledge’s next candidate:

Davey Martinez postponed announcing the starting pitcher for the series opener. Milwaukee Brewers The Mets had previously stated they would not use him until the series finale against the New York Mets at Citi Field, but after the Mets’ three-game home loss, he told reporters that he planned to use 25-year-old 2019 first-round draft pick Jackson Rutledge at American Family Field.

“Rutledge is going to start, so we have to decide who’s going to start,” Martinez explained.

“We have to wait. [Rutledge] I’ll come here and make a decision tomorrow.”

In the end, Joan Adon, who had been brought up to make room in the Nationals’ bullpen, was sent to Triple-A Rochester to make room on the roster.

Why was Rutledge given this opportunity to make his sixth appearance and fifth start in the majors?

“He’s next up,” the manager said, “so we’re going to get him here, get him prepared, get him ready and hopefully let him pitch a few innings. Let him pitch a few innings.”

Rutledge, who started 16 games for Triple-A Rochester this season,In 71 games, he has a 6.66 ERA, a 4.60 FIP, 5.02 walks per nine innings and 8.92 strikeouts per nine innings. ²⁄₃ inning) made one relief appearance at major league level earlier this season, in the second game of a doubleheader against the Chicago White Sox in mid-May.

A few days later, general manager and president of baseball operations Mike Rizzo spoke to 106.7 the FAN at Sports Junkies in Washington about the 6-foot-8 starting pitcher’s development since being selected 17th overall in the 2019 draft.

“He’s inconsistent,” Rizzo acknowledged, “but he’s shown flashes of being a good major league starter. We need to work him up. He’s a very skinny right-handed pitcher. A lot of times when pitchers have long arms and legs, it takes them a little bit of time to adjust to that size. He’s 6 feet tall.”[8]It took Randy Johnson and the other guys with long limbs a little longer to develop, getting his body in sync and all that, but we have high hopes and expectations that he’ll be in the starting rotation in the major leagues in the near future.

“He’s a player we can get right now and he can start in the major leagues if we need him.

“But he’s been working on four pitches in the minor leagues, getting his ball flowing and showing signs of the player we want him to be. [him] “It’s tough to get that far in the major leagues, but he’s inconsistent and needs to improve, but there are high expectations for him. He’s a big, powerful guy who throws 96-97 mph and has two good secondary pitches, so I’m excited about his potential and future.”

Photo by John Fisher/Getty Images

Before the start of the series against the Brewers, Martinez said he gave Rutledge the same advice he and the organization give to all of its pitchers.

“He needs to get ahead of the batters so he can limit walks,” he explained.

“Walks hurt him, so he has to get ahead of the hitters and use his four-seam, two-seam and slider. Just focus on getting ahead.”

“Mitchell Parker and DJ [Herz] “And how much they’ve worked on throwing the ball in the zone,” he added. “Not being afraid to throw the ball past home plate, and they’ve been pretty successful here so far, so I want him to do the same. That’s kind of what we preach here, you’ve got to limit the damage, you can’t walk batters, you’re getting yourself into trouble, but you’ve got to attack the strike zone.”

Rutledge took the mound in Milwaukee and struck out the Brewers in order in a 15-pitch first inning, gave up a single with one out in a 13-pitch second inning, then threw another 13 pitches, a 1-2-3 third inning, throwing just 41 pitches total and striking out 9 of 10 pitches while allowing no runs in three innings.

But leading 3-0 in the top of the fourth, Rutledge walked the Brewers’ leadoff batter in the fourth, putting William Contreras on base, and with one out, Willy Adames’ RBI double put the home team up 3-1, and Sal Frelick’s RBI double made it 3-2.

He threw 26 pitches in the fourth inning, bringing his total to 67, striking out two batters, but also missing on one and walking with two outs, before the Nationals’ starter got a grounder that should have been the out on his third pitch of the fifth inning, but shortstop C.J. Abrams got him out. The Nationals’ starter threw 89 pitches in the inning, his 22nd pitch.

Robert Garcia came on to the mound, walked again, got three outs, pitched again with no runs allowed in the sixth inning, and handed the ball to Derek Law in the bottom of the seventh, Hunter Harvey in the eighth, and Kyle Finnegan in the ninth as the Nationals won, 5-2.

Jesse Winker scored the first of five runs in the first inning, scoring Keibert Lewis (RBI Single) and Trey Lipscomb (RBI double) scored one run in the fourth inning, then Winker hit a home run in the top of the fifth, and then Lane Thomas scored one in the seventh (RBI Single).

“Offensively, it was a good day,” Martinez said after the win, in which his batters scored five runs on 12 hits and went 6-for-11 with five runners left in scoring position.

“We still had a couple of runners on base, but I’m proud of the way they bounced back today.”

Rutledge also had a relatively good day.

“He was running around the zone. He was running around the zone. He threw the ball. When he got behind, he came back with good strikes,” Martinez said. “…But he was running around the zone. When you get close misses, you tend to get more swings…But when you’re shaky and it’s all over the place, hitters tend to let their guard down a little bit and take a walk. And these guys take a walk. But he was running around the plate all night.”

“I just relaxed and trusted the game plan,” Rutledge said. Quote from MASN’s Mark Zuckerman“To be honest, I didn’t pitch very well in Triple-A, so when I got called up here, I was praying for an opportunity and it came true. I just thought I was going to go out there and have fun, and do what I can do. I was really relaxed and comfortable pitching, and it was fun.”

Rutledge struck out six, struck out 10 swinging and racked up 21 called strikes, 14 of which came with his sinker.

Martinez said the team lost control for a while after giving up a run in the fourth inning.

“He got a little bit behind and worked the batter count, but he settled in a little bit and got a big out for us. We sent him back out to the mound and he did a great job,” Martinez said.

In the ideal scenario, Abrams would catch the grounder with two outs and Rutledge would advance to the fifth, leaving a runner on base that Garcia would take over for (And his own walk).

“At that moment, I thought the minute he saw the ground ball he was going to be out of the game. That didn’t happen, but I was hoping Garcia would beat Yelich.”

“[Rutledge] The fifth inning was good, but he pitched really well.”