CLEVELAND – A bleary-eyed Nationals team showed up for work this evening, flying high from a series win in Atlanta but dragging from a delayed flight following a getaway night that didn’t have them in bed until about 5 a.m.
Was a lack of sleep to blame for their eventual 7-1 loss to the Guardians? Or was it just another rough night at the plate for an offensively challenged club? Or was Cleveland’s pitching staff just that good?
Take your pick. Any or all of those reasons could be valid. Whatever the explanation, the Nats lost yet another ballgame that was low-scoring and tight late to a talented opponent. It’s happened before, and it’ll probably happen again. But it’s not cause for panic, especially if they stay true to form and bounce back Saturday after they get a well deserved good night’s sleep.
"It's tough. I still think getaway days should be at 1 (p.m.)," starter Patrick Corbin said. "You never know what can happen. We play every day. It's tough, but it happens to everybody. You have to try to find ways to battle through it. Hopefully guys can get some rest tonight and come back tomorrow."
The shame of this loss was that it came on a night Corbin was quite good. The veteran left-hander, who entered with a 6.12 ERA, became the fourth straight Nationals starter to allow two or fewer runs. Somehow, he still emerged with a loss, his sixth of the year.
That’s because the Nats lineup was rendered helpless by Tanner Bibee, who allowed one run over 6 1/3 innings and allowed only three batters to reach base through the sixth.
The Nationals barely put up a fight against Bibee, last year’s runner-up for American League Rookie of the Year. Only one runner reached scoring position until the seventh, and that happened only because of an error.
"Let's give him credit, he pitched a great game out there," said second baseman Luis García Jr., who finished with three of his team's four hits, via interpreter Octavio Martinez. "He was locating his pitches very well, mixing it up."
They finally managed to string together two hits in the same inning in the top of the seventh, getting a leadoff single from García and a one-out RBI double from Eddie Rosario to knock the Cleveland starter from the game. But with a chance to tie the game with a simple single off reliever Cade Smith, Nick Senzel flied out to left and Joey Gallo struck out swinging at a chin-high fastball.
"Look, (Bibee) kept the ball up in the zone," manager Davey Martinez said. "He has a good changeup, which we knew. Just one of those days."
The Nats bullpen then made a mess of the bottom of the seventh, with Jacob Barnes and Robert Garcia combining to allow four runs. Garcia nearly got out of the inning unscathed, but Senzel and Luis García couldn’t turn a desperately needed 5-4-3 double play in which García had to cover extra ground because he was shifted away from second base during that at-bat, and David Fry immediately followed with a three-run homer to left that blew the game open.
"It's difficult, because it was a ball that was hit fairly well," García said. "And (shortstop CJ Abrams) is moving in that direction. I just tried to get there, but I was unable to."
Martinez felt that was a rare situation where a 5-6-3 double play was called for, given the infield's alignment.
"Senzel made a nice play on a ball in the hole," the manager said. "We're playing a shift. Abrams didn't see where Senzel (was), that's my thought. He should've gone to second base. Luis is playing the shift over there. If (Abrams) goes straight to second base, he turns the double play easy."
While the rest of his teammates waited around in Atlanta for their delayed charter plane deep into Thursday night, Corbin was already resting comfortably in Cleveland, having flown on his own earlier in the day as is custom for a starting pitcher under such circumstances.
The left-hander looked fairly comfortable from the outset, keeping a Guardians lineup that leads the American League in runs scored relatively in check aside from a little hiccup in the bottom of the third.
Cleveland’s two-run rally wasn’t entirely Corbin’s fault, anyway. He did issue a leadoff walk of No. 9 hitter Brayan Rocchio, then gave up a single to Steven Kwan. But he followed that up by getting Tyler Freeman to hit a ground ball to the left side that could have turned into a double play, or at least one out. Instead, the ball ricocheted off Senzel’s glove and toward Abrams, who dove for it and wound up faceplanting in the process.
"He said he got that look where everything blacked out before he could go get the ball," Martinez said. "He hit his face pretty hard on the ground."
Rocchio came barreling around third on the play, and though Abrams recovered in time to make a throw, it was slightly off-target and Keibert Ruiz wasn’t able to get back in time to tag the sliding Rocchio. Moments later, Kwan came home to score on another grounder to third, with Senzel this time throwing the ball across the diamond for the sure out.
"It reminded me of 'Angels in the Outfield,' that movie," Corbin said. "They just control the ball, moving it all over the place. It just seems something like that happens when I'm out there. Just a crazy play on both sides. They read it well, ran the bases well."
Cleveland’s only other scoring opportunity against Corbin came in the fifth, when Jose Ramírez singled to center and Kwan tried to score from second on the play. Jacob Young’s throw wasn’t perfect, but Ruiz’s tag completed the Nationals’ 15th outfield assist of the year (second-most in the majors, behind only Cleveland).
Corbin returned for the sixth, posted another zero and then got handshakes in the dugout for a job well done: Two runs in six innings against a tough lineup. Not even that was good enough for a win tonight, though.
"Good lineup over there," Corbin said. "You try to minimize damage as best you can. It just wasn't our night tonight."