Soroka feels "lively" while facing good friend Fedde; Ruiz homers twice

JUPITER, Fla. – As the starting lineups were announced for this afternoon's Grapefruit League action at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium, one could have thought we had traveled back in time.

The starting pitcher for the visitors: Michael Soroka. The starting pitcher for the home side: Erick Fedde.

No, this was not a Nats-Braves matchup from 2019. This was a 2025 spring training game between the Nationals and Cardinals, which the good guys won in a 12-1 rout.

The two right-handers became good friends during their time with the White Sox last year. They’re even roommates here in the greater West Palm Beach area for spring training. But today they were rivals.

“It was fun. It was fun to watch Fed do what he had to do,” Soroka said after his outing was done. “I got to watch him a lot last year. I'll see what our guys are saying and I'll talk to them. Yeah, he's a special guy, first and foremost, and it's fun to go up against a friend.”

Going by the numbers, it may have been a toss-up between the former Brave and the former National.

Soroka completed four innings of one-run ball with four hits, no walks and six strikeouts. He tossed 61 pitches, although only 37 were for strikes. Meanwhile, Fedde completed three shutout, hitless innings with two walks and a strikeout, throwing 55 pitches, 29 strikes.

“I love the way he competes,” manager Davey Martinez said about his starter. “He attacks the strike zone. He's got a mix of four really good pitches. He wants to work ahead. He tries to work ahead. But he can get you out with any one of his pitches. When he's ahead, he's really good, because you don't know what he could throw. Today was a perfect example. He's got great movement on his fastballs. His curveball was good. Slider. Changeup was really good. So another good day for him.”

The current Nationals right-hander cruised through his first three frames, striking out the side in the third with two sliders and a 96 mph fastball. But he ran into trouble in the fourth. After issuing back-to-back singles to start, Soroka got a double play that moved a runner to third.

He thought he had an inning-ending sixth strikeout, but an Automated Balls and Strikes (ABS) challenge overturned the strike three call to a ball. Donovan then smacked an RBI single into center on the next pitch.

Soroka got that sixth strikeout on an 85 mph changeup to finally end his afternoon, but he was still unsatisfied with how often he was falling behind hitters in his second spring outing.

“Not working on really anything in particular, other than just continuing the process that we've kind of laid out for the spring,” Soroka said. “I felt good. I felt fairly lively. It was kind of just a mixed bag a little bit today, falling behind a lot of guys, but making really good pitches behind in the count. Got out of a couple of jams early with that. And ultimately, that's why they put up that run in the last inning.

“I was falling behind (Lars) Nootbaar 2-0, three straight fastballs. It was working so far, so there was no reason not to do it. But they get that leadoff hit and a couple of pro at-bats from a couple guys. (Willson) Contreras made a good adjustment, made sure to get his hands inside that last sinker and pushed him across. Again, it was a really good curveball to Donovan that he probably just sold out for, made sure that he wasn't getting beat by, and put it out there and got himself the RBI. So again, if I stay on it, stay over the plate and make sure we're ahead more often, I think you minimize, at least for that inning, for sure. But all in all, it was good.”

After his first start, Soroka was pleased with his fastball velocity. He wants to keep it up and sustain it throughout the season as he transitions back to a full-time starter. The heater sat at 95 mph today and topped out at 95 mph.

“I thought a couple of reminders early in innings – after the third, fourth – the first pitch of the inning wasn't quite all the way up there,” he said. “And then you remember to step on it a little bit. There's no easy outs in this game. I got to make sure that we stay right there, stay smooth and stay consistent with the delivery. And I should be able to keep that right there.”

* The Nationals sure like hitting in Jupiter, where the wind has been blowing toward the outfield the past two days.

After finishing yesterday’s game against the Marlins with eight runs, five walks and 10 hits (seven for extra bases), the Nats collected 13 hits (five for extra bases) and scored 12 runs.

“They were really good,” Martinez said of his team’s at-bats. “We got on the fastballs today, which was awesome. We worked on it. We talked about it. The boys swung the bats really well again today.”

They were led by two home runs by Keibert Ruiz and one by former Cardinal Paul DeJong.

Ruiz hit his first home run of the spring in the fourth inning. The two-run shot, with DeJong on base, went 103.1 mph off the bat and traveled 386 feet to right-center field. The catcher’s second longball was a solo shot 108.1 mph off the bat and 334 feet to right field as part of the Nats’ eight-run sixth inning.

“He was very patient up there hitting,” Martinez said. “He was chasing fastballs, which was awesome. So he had a good day at the plate. Like I said, when he gets a pitch in the zone, he's gonna hit it hard. And he did that today.”

DeJong’s bolt also came in the sixth. His second homer of the spring, a three-run shot, launched 106 mph off the bat and traveled 362 feet to left field.