Soto, Bell finally break through to beat Nats (updated)

SAN DIEGO – As well as they had done against Juan Soto and Josh Bell through the first five games they played against their former teammates, the Nationals had to know it was only a matter of time before both sluggers broke through in a big way.

They just hoped it wouldn’t happen against them. Certainly not within the same ballgame.

Alas, Soto and Bell decided tonight was the night to bust loose. And thanks to the solo homer each current Padre hit, the Nationals were left to suffer a 2-1 loss at Petco Park.

The Padres didn’t do much else at the plate, and they continue to make their fans sweat as they try to turn a potent-on-paper lineup into a potent-in-reality lineup. But all they needed tonight were those two big blasts to emerge victorious.

"Those guys, you know what kind of players they are," manager Davey Martinez said. "Bell got a ball up where he handles. And Soto got a ball, I think, right down the middle. Two good hitters."

Bell connected first, launching a 415-foot shot to right-center off Josiah Gray in the bottom of the fifth, his first hit in 21 at-bats against the Nationals since the Aug. 2 blockbuster trade. Soto then did his damage two innings later against Steve Cishek, belting the reliever’s 2-0 sinker to straightaway center field for the go-ahead homer that left a sellout crowd of 42,529 delirious.

"Trying to stay down and away was my goal. Unfortunately, I threw it exactly where he wanted it, apparently, because he absolutely crushed that ball," Cishek said of Soto's 429-foot missile.

That the right-handed, side-arming Cishek was on the mound to face Soto and the heart of the San Diego order in a tie game was a reflection of the state of the Nats bullpen at that particular moment in time. Kyle Finnegan, Carl Edwards Jr. and Victor Arano all had pitched the previous two nights, and the first two were unavailable to pitch again tonight.

Martinez perhaps could’ve gone with recently acquired lefty Jake McGee, who completed a 1-2-3 bottom of the sixth on 11 pitches, but the manager decided not to bring the 37-year-old back for another inning after he had already warmed up multiple times earlier while Gray was laboring.

"He was done," the manager explained. "We had to get him in the game (in the sixth). If not, he doesn't pitch. We got him in the game, and he threw the ball well. But he couldn't go back out there."

It also would’ve helped had the Nationals gotten more innings from tonight’s starter, but it was clear early on that wasn’t going be the case with Gray.

In one respect, this was an effective start for Gray. He allowed only one run over five innings, which in this day and age certainly qualifies as effective. But there was so much left to be desired from this outing, in which the 24-year-old labored all night long, gave the Padres more baserunners than they deserved and racked up an astounding pitch count (102 in five innings).

"I feel like I let the team down a bit," Gray said. "I didn't take care of my responsibilities going out there throwing the innings that I should. Five innings this late in the season doesn't really get the job done."

Gray loaded the bases in the bottom of the first via three walks, then escaped by striking out Bell on three pitches. He loaded the bases again in the bottom of the third, then escaped when Ha-Seong Kim lofted a fly ball to left on the first pitch he saw.

Gray’s best work may have come in the fourth, when an Ildemaro Vargas error and his fifth walk of the game set the Padres up for a big inning with their big hitters due up. But the young right-hander managed to keep Soto in the ballpark (barely) and then battled back from a 3-0 count to strike out Manny Machado on a 3-2 slider.

"I'd say the frustration takes over the general picture," he said. "But highlighting getting out of two bases-loaded jams ... there's some good. But I don't think the good should overshadow the lack of command, or going (only) five innings."

Gray would depart with no decision, because the game was tied 1-1 at the time. As such, the Nationals extended a most dubious streak: This was the 38th consecutive game without their starting pitcher earning a win, longest in modern baseball history.

"His location was not good today, but what I did see was that he battled through it and gave us five innings," Martinez said. "Just the pitch count got up there."

There were opportunities for Gray’s teammates to provide him a lead, but they couldn’t deliver the clutch hits they needed against Joe Musgrove. Lane Thomas ripped a solo homer off the Padres starter in the top of the second, but everyone else went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position.

The most egregious missed opportunity came in the fifth, when the Nats had runners on first and third with one out and tried a safety squeeze. César Hernández’s bunt, though, went back to Musgrove, who charged in and made a relatively simple flip to the plate to nail Vargas (who appeared hobbled after getting hit by a pitch on his left foot earlier in the inning).

With one last shot to rally in the ninth, the Nationals put two men on base with one out. But with struggling closer Josh Hader removed from the role after back-to-back ragged outings, fill-in Luis García got out of the jam by getting pinch-hitter Maikel Franco to ground into a double play to end the game.

Franco proved to be Martinez's only option off the bench (aside from backup catcher Tres Barrera) because Luke Voit was unavailable for the second straight night due to back spasms and Josh Palacios (who was recalled from Triple-A Rochester in the afternoon when Yadiel Hernandez went on the injured list with a calf strain) never made it from Worcester, Mass., to San Diego before the game was over.

"You can't do much of anything," Martinez said. "I thought Maikel could go get a fastball. He got one, it just ran in on him."