For the third time in five days as a big leaguer, James Wood stepped to the plate in the bottom of the ninth with a chance to win the game for the Nationals. And for the third time in five days as a big leaguer, Wood and the Nats proceeded to go to extra innings.
Where for the third time in five days, they proceeded to lose. But, for the first time, in the 11th instead of the 10th.
Unlike Monday and Tuesday nights against the Mets, the Nationals found a way to extend this game against the Cardinals. That only prolonged the heartache, with St. Louis scoring the eventual winning run on a strikeout that got away from catcher Riley Adams and the Nats lineup unable to mount one final rally before falling, 7-6.
"We've been playing a lot of these tough games here lately," closer Kyle Finnegan said. "It's a testament to our character that we keep showing up and giving everything we have. Hopefully the balls start bouncing our way, and the tides will change here soon."
Unable to mount any more offense of consequence after busting out of the gates early, the Nationals instead had to rely on an overworked bullpen to keep the game alive. That group couldn’t do it, with Hunter Harvey allowing a run in the eighth, Finnegan blowing the save in the ninth and Dylan Floro allowing St. Louis' automatic runner to score in both the 10th and 11th.
Still, the Nationals battled back. With a chance in the bottom of the 10th, the Nats got a productive out from Jesse Winker, then a 101.2 mph RBI single from Keibert Ruiz to score Wood (the automatic runner) from third and tie the game. After Luis García Jr. legged out an infield single, he and Nasim Nuñez (pinch-running for Ruiz) pulled off a one-out double-steal, putting the just-promoted Juan Yepez at the plate with a chance to beat his former team.
Yepez battled through a 10-pitch at-bat and ripped a line drive to second, but it was snagged by Gorman, who then threw the ball to third to double up the unsuspecting Nuñez and send this game to the 11th.
"We hit the ball hard," manager Davey Martinez said. "Yepez had some really good at-bats. He had a tough at-bat against (Cardinals closer Ryan Helsley) and he lined out. In that situation, Nuñez was going on contact. It was just unfortunate."
Floro, returning to the mound for his second inning of relief, watched automatic runner Masyn Winn advance to third on a ground ball. He then struck out Willson Contreras only to watch in horror as the ball got away from Adams, who had just entered the game to replace Ruiz behind the plate. Winn scampered home, and the Nationals trailed again.
"I mean, it's a pretty simple play," Adams said. "It's a pitch I need to catch, and I didn't catch it. That's my job, and I didn't come through there."
And when they couldn’t pull off one last rally in the bottom of the 11th, they were left to stew over another heartbreaking loss.
"We battled to the last inning," García said, via interpreter Octavio Martinez. "This game teaches you a lot. We've just got to keep battling and battling."
The Nationals got the rarest of rare combinations through the first half of tonight’s game: Early offense against a quality opposing starter and an effective outing from Patrick Corbin, who has barely pitched with a lead this season. But even those two positive developments still required a third one to make victory: Four crisp innings of relief from a bullpen that’s still not 100 percent fresh after a rough stretch of heavy usage.
That task proved too difficult for the group to handle. Though they got zeros from Robert Garcia and Derek Law, the Nats watched as Harvey and Finnegan (each pitching for the fourth time in five days) each gave up a run to leave the game tied and ultimately necessitating extra innings.
Harvey was summoned to get the final out of the seventh, which he did on one pitch. But then he returned for the eighth, which didn’t go so smoothly. Three hits later, Harvey had given up one run and cut his team’s lead to 5-4.
Finnegan took over for the ninth seeking his 24th save in 27 chances, but the potential All-Star closer proceeded to serve up the game-tying homer to Contreras on a 3-2 fastball over the plate, crouching to the mound in disbelief as he watched the ball soar to right-center.
"I felt good about the plan of attack on attacking him there," said Finnegan, who had previously given up only one run in 17 innings at home this season. "It just leaked over the plate a little bit too much, and he put a good swing on it."
With a chance to win it in the bottom of the ninth, Lane Thomas reached second on a two-out hustle double. But Wood sent a high fly ball to left field for the third out, sending the game to the 10th.
The Nationals lineup has had all kinds of trouble scoring early runs lately against opposing starters far less accomplished than Sonny Gray. So when they got to the Cardinals right-hander with the 2.98 ERA for five quick runs tonight, it felt like a seismic shift in fortunes.
They did it with a sustained attack that produced two runs in the first, two more in the second and then another in the third. And they got contributions from up and down the batting order.
Winker, picking up right where he left off Thursday afternoon, doubled in the evening’s first run in the bottom of the first. Moments later, he scored on García’s hit-and-run single to right to make it 2-0.
CJ Abrams added a two-run double to deep right in the bottom of the second. And then Luis García took matters into his own hands in the bottom of the third with an opposite-field homer, his third in his last four at-bats dating back to Wednesday.
"I just feel like I've been maintaining myself on top of the ball," he said. "Staying short to the ball. I work a lot with (hitting coach Darnell Coles), staying short to the ball. I've stayed with the same approach, and I think it's paid off."
It had been a while since Corbin had anything like a 5-0 lead to pitch with. The beleaguered left-hander entered with only one win this season, and that came way back on May 10 against the Red Sox. Even when he didn’t factor into the decision, his team usually wound up on the losing end of the equation, going 5-12 in games he started prior to tonight.
On a disgustingly hot and humid July evening, Corbin labored through a 27-pitch first inning that didn’t include any runs but did tire him out to some extent. He made it through the third unscathed, but then came a long top of the fourth that saw the Cardinals score two runs on three singles, a walk and a sacrifice fly. Corbin wasn’t aided by the left side of his infield, with Abrams and Nick Senzel each unable to make a play on grounders with an expected batting average of only .230.
Two more hits in the fifth plated another run, cutting the Nationals’ lead to 5-3. And with his pitch count up to 91, the left-hander was thanked for his efforts and told to take a cool shower, entrusting the final four innings of this game to a bullpen that mostly had Thursday off, thanks to Jake Irvin’s eight innings of one-hit ball.
"They got the pitch count up a little bit," Corbin said. "There were some at-bats the first couple innings. But I think overall I made some good pitches. A couple infield hits they got through there. And a couple walks, which got the pitch count up. But I think overall I mixed it up pretty well and was able to get through five."
It’s fair to wonder if any or all of the relievers who entered tonight will now need to take Saturday off after the work they had to put in tonight during yet another tight game that was decided late.
"It's tough when you're asked to pitch a lot. But we take pride in that," Finnegan said. "It's something that, as relievers, you understand you're going to go through at some point during the season. I think we've done a great job of being available and going out there and giving it everything we have."