MILWAUKEE – It was just about the worst possible way this game could have started for the Nationals, Mitchell Parker unable to get out of the first inning with a pitch count bordering on dangerous levels, the Brewers storming out to a quick five-run lead.
The Nats bullpen was already in less-than-ideal shape on Day 16 of a brutal, 17-day stretch to close out the season’s first half. But there were still eight innings to play, and nothing had to be written in stone at that early juncture, no matter how ugly it looked.
And sure enough, by the time CJ Abrams demolished a 99-mph fastball from Milwaukee closer Trevor Megill in the top of the ninth and Kyle Finnegan finished off a remarkable bullpen effort that included 8 1/3 scoreless innings, the Nationals – yes, the Nationals – were the ones celebrating in the middle of the diamond at American Family Field, having pulled off a 6-5 victory that has to qualify as one of the most stunning in team history.
"You can either lay down or fight back," Abrams said. "We do a good job of fighting back. It's not over 'til it's over, and we showed that."
Trailing 5-0 in the bottom of the first, with Parker pulled and Davey Martinez having to turn to his bullpen at that ridiculously early juncture, the Nats somehow clawed their way back to win.
"That was an unbelievable win," Martinez said. "The boys stayed in it. We battled back. I can't say enough about what the bullpen did today. They were saviors."
The Nationals got eight zeros from five relievers. They chipped away at the deficit and got themselves to within one run heading to the ninth. And then they got the final blow from their All-Star.
It had been a quiet afternoon for Abrams, who was 0-for-3 with a strikeout and zero balls hit out of the infield. But with Luis García Jr. leading off second representing the tying run, Abrams not only drove in his teammate. He drove in himself, demolishing Megill’s 0-1 fastball into the second deck in right field, a 416-foot blast that left the crowd of 34,169 in stunned silence and the visiting dugout in joyous celebration.
"I looked straight at the dugout, and everybody's lit," Abrams said. "Energy. I love it."
Finnegan, pitching for the third straight day, then closed out the bottom of the ninth, though it still required one more remarkable moment to cap this game off. With the tying run on second and two out, Joey Ortiz launched Finnegan's final pitch deep to right. Lane Thomas, whose issues going back on balls near the wall have become well known, managed to make a leaping grab for the 27th out of a remarkable game.
"I don't know if I've really grown that much (over the years on those type of plays)," said Thomas, who entered the day with minus-9 Defensive Runs Saved, tied for worst among all major league right fielders. "I feel like I just kind of made one there. It's definitely a play that I hope to get better at. It's nice I got one in the book."
This turned into a dominant effort from a Nationals bullpen that already was running on fumes entering the day and then had to do everything in its power to clean up the mess its young starter created in the bottom of the first.
The most astounding part of Parker’s outing wasn’t the five runs he surrendered. It wasn’t the three hits and two walks he allowed. It was the fact he threw 46 pitches while facing only seven batters.
The Brewers did a remarkable job of simply putting bat to ball, even if it didn’t lead to that much contact in the field of play. They fouled off a staggering 16 of those 46 pitches, swinging and missing only twice. All but one of the at-bats lasted at least five pitches. Three of them lasted at least eight pitches. One of them, by Sal Frelick, lasted 11 pitches and ended with a soul-crushing walk.
"Everything felt good on my part today. It was just one of those days when I couldn't execute everything," Parker said. "I got punished for it and wasn't able to get out of the first. It sucks, but I'm going to be able to learn a lot from it."
Parker had numerous chances to get out of the inning earlier, having struck out No. 3 and No. 4 hitters William Contreras and Willy Adames back-to-back. But he could not put anyone else away, with Rhys Hoskins doubling in two runs, Frelick drawing his walk and then Andruw Monasterio doubling on the eighth pitch he saw (moments after a pitch that appeared to be at the knees wasn’t called strike three by plate umpire Ben May).
Much as he wished he could leave Parker out there and give him a chance at a few more innings, Martinez had no choice but to pull the left-hander after that 46th pitch, a dangerous total for anybody, all the more so for a rookie making his 17th career start.
"It was the pitch count. And uncharacteristic to him, he wasn't around the plate like he normally is," Martinez said. "It was a lot of balls, a lot of foul balls, and I didn't see it getting any better today. I thought let's just get him out, get him a break ... and let's reset him."
Parker thus became the first Nationals starter to fail to complete at least three innings this season, a source of pride for a rotation that had avoided any true blowup starts. He’s only the eighth in club history to fail to complete the first inning for performance reasons, having thrown the second-most pitches of anyone else in that group, trailing only Jeremy Guthrie’s total of 47 from a trainwreck start in 2017.
Today’s early departure created a potentially disastrous situation for the Nats bullpen, which only one day earlier demoted briefly used long man Joan Adon in order to call up Jackson Rutledge for Friday night’s spot start. Rutledge was sent back to Rochester this morning, with reliever Eduardo Salazar promoted from Triple-A to get a look over the rest of the weekend (though Martinez said he hoped to give the 26-year-old a soft launch in a low-leverage situation).
So the Nationals had to find some way to piece the rest of this game together, needing at least 22 outs from a bullpen it turns out didn't have setup man Hunter Harvey, who it was announced postgame was traded to the Royals for third base prospect Cayden Wallace and the 39th pick in Sunday night's draft.
Jordan Weems struggled at the outset, allowing two of the runners he inherited from Parker to score, but then recorded five outs on 38 pitches. Jacob Barnes proved to be the true workhorse of the group, churning out 2 2/3 scoreless innings on a mere 34 pitches, and at least giving his teammates an opportunity to make a game of this.
"Parker's thrown really well all year," Barnes said. "Unfortunately, it's a long year, and those things happen. So when we saw it happening, we were kind of like: 'All right boys, here we go. We know what we've got to do. You just want to give the offense a chance."
Which is exactly what they did. Though they squandered a first-inning scoring opportunity against Dallas Keuchel, the Nats finally got to the well traveled lefty in the top of the fourth, rapping out five consecutive hits, with Harold Ramírez, Ildemaro Vargas and Riley Adams each driving in a run to make it a 5-3 game.
García then came off the bench to pinch-hit for Trey Lipscomb in the top of the seventh and promptly crushed a ball to center for his fourth homer in nine games. And now it was 5-4, the boys battling and hoping to somehow pull off a stunning comeback after a worst-case start to the afternoon.
Dylan Floro (two scoreless innings) and Derek Law (one scoreless inning) did their part to finish out the near-perfect bullpen effort. But they still needed one more clutch hit from their lineup, and then one more inning from their overworked bullpen.
Abrams provided the hit. Finnegan provided the scoreless inning. Thomas provided the final web gem. And the Nationals provided the unlikeliest celebration of the season.
"I feel like we've been kind of fighting our way back all year," Thomas said. "I think looking at that first inning, we're down five ... we had a lot of innings left to try to get back. I don't think at any point we thought we were out of it. It was a good day."