Sloppy:
Davey Martinez used the word “sloppy” four times in the 4 minutes and 25 seconds of his postgame press conference, published online by MASN, to describe the Washington Nationals’ 3-2 loss to the Cleveland Guardians on Saturday afternoon.
Mitchell Parker struggled with control early in two of the Nationals’ three innings at Progressive Field, allowing a single and consecutive walks in the bottom of the first before striking out for the second out. Then Guardians first baseman Kyle Monzado hit a pop to short left field that was caught by Nick Senzel, Ildemaro Vargas and Eddie Rosario for a two-run single.
The team had a chance to strike back in the second inning. Luis Garcia Jr. singled to lead off the inning and tried to score from first on Senzel’s two-out double, but third base coach Ricky Gutierrez belatedly gave the “Stop!” sign. Garcia Jr. tried to hang on but slipped and was tagged out for a rundown, marking the third out of the frame.
Jose Ramirez singled in the top of the third for the Guardians, stole second base with one out and scored on a wild pitch by Parker, who was not in good position to score a touchdown after Riley Adams caught the ball and threw it home to make it 3-0, but the team ended up losing 3-2.
“We were sloppy that game,” Martinez said after the game. “They gave up five hits. We had two defensive midfielders and infield hits that we should have caught, but we got two outs on the bases. We just made a lot of mistakes.” [Parker] We should have finished the inning without conceding a run, but that’s what cost us the game. We have to play better, and we’ve been playing well so far.
“I’m not going to criticize the way we played, but we were just sloppy today, so we’ve got to come back tomorrow and play the way we have been playing and try to win the game.”
“But I was a little sloppy today.”
So, was it sloppy?
“We played sloppy,” he told reporters at another point, “but we have a chance to come back tomorrow, have a good road trip and play some more baseball tomorrow.”
It was a two-run hit, but whose ball was it?
Martinez said Vargas (He filled in for CJ Abrams, who was hit in the face in the infield during Friday’s game and missed the game with a shoulder injury.) should have caught it.
“He should have caught the ball.” [Vargas] I called. He waved me off. My guess is he heard somebody call, but he ran out there and all he had to do was catch the ball.
“The ball has to be caught.”
Was Garcia Jr. out around third base? Martinez acknowledged that the stop sign was up late.
“[Gutierrez] “I tried to stop him a little late and he saw the ball go past one of the cutoff guys,” Martinez explained.
“But, yeah, right now I’m not swinging, I’m not hitting.
“I thought if I could hold him off I would have a chance, but Lewis tried to get back and slipped and couldn’t get back.”
What’s it like being at the plate with Parker?
“He was standing behind home plate,” Martinez said. “I don’t think he noticed it. First of all, he [Ramirez] The ball was supposed to come, but he should have been in front of home plate and ready to catch it and get the touchdown. It’s a shame. He threw a really good ball.
“Like I said, two infield hits, one error. Things didn’t go well for us today, nothing happened, it was a sloppy game. But we have a chance to bounce back tomorrow. Have a good outing and play some more baseball tomorrow.”
In Parker’s remaining appearances, he gave up four hits, four walks, three earned runs, and struck out five batters, striking out 15 (6 for fastball, 4 for curveball, 5 for splitter), 17 strikes (Fastball is 8, Curve is 9)?
“He was throwing the ball up high,” Martinez said.[Pitching Coach Jim] “Hickey talked to him and he started to settle in a little bit and started throwing the ball in the strike zone. The ball was coming out nicely. He settled in and made some really good pitches. Our pitching is really good.”
“We continued to pitch and stay in the game. We just need to get some more timely hitting. That was the key, but like I said, we need to come back tomorrow and get a 1-0 win.”
