Thomas keeps bolstering case; final strikeout call irks Nats

SEATTLE – Lane Thomas made plans a while back to spend his All-Star break at the beach with his wife. He might need to find out if those reservations are refundable, because with each passing day it looks more and more like he’s going to be spending his All-Star break right here in Seattle with the rest of baseball’s best players.

Thomas continues to make a compelling case for himself to represent the Nationals in the All-Star Game, set to be played two weeks from today at T-Mobile Park. What initially looked like a red-hot month at the plate has since turned into a prolonged stretch of success as good as anyone in the sport has produced this season.

With another homer and another RBI double during Monday night’s 8-4 loss to the Mariners, Thomas raised the bar even further. He now has 14 home runs, all of them coming since May 1. He’s now batting .297 with an .860 OPS, and though those numbers may not rank among the league leaders, they’re depressed a bit only because of his slow start to the season.

When Thomas hit his first homer May 1 against the Cubs, he was batting .260 and slugging a paltry .302. He has been nothing short of MVP-like ever since.

In 51 games played since that notable date, Thomas is batting .314 and slugging .614. Extrapolate all of his stats during that stretch over a 162-game season, and his totals would be mind-blowing: 127 runs, 206 hits, 51 doubles, 44 homers, 98 RBIs, 16 steals and a .967 OPS.

Now, of course you can’t really just say any player would perform just as well over 162 games as he did over 51 games. But neither is this a small sample size at this point. Thomas has been crushing the ball for nearly one-third of an entire major league season.

And if he just maintains something along these lines through the rest of the week, it’s going to be tough for Major League Baseball to keep him off the National League All-Star roster.

* It’s not the reason they lost Monday’s game, but the final strike three on Jeimer Candelario with two outs in the ninth provided the Nationals plenty of reason to be upset with plate umpire Mark Carlson.

The Nats trailed by six runs when the ninth began, but they got back-to-back singles from Keibert Ruiz and Dominic Smith to ignite a last-ditch rally, then a two-out RBI double from Thomas followed by an impressive full-count walk drawn by Luis Garcia (who also walked in the eighth).

That brought Candelario to the plate, suddenly representing the tying run, and it brought Mariners manager Scott Servais to the mound to make a pitching change. In came closer Paul Sewald for what was now an unlikely save situation.

Sewald threw four pitches in total. Only of them hit the strike zone: a 1-0, thigh-high sweeper that Candelario took for strike one. He came back with two more sweepers, each of them outside the zone. Candelario swung and missed at the first one, leaving him now staring at a 1-2 count and one strike away from ending the game.

Sewald threw another sweeper, this one at the knees but well beyond the outer edge of the strike zone. Candelario kept his bat on his shoulder, only to watch as Carlson rung him up for a game-ending strikeout.

Candelario had a few words for Carlson. Davey Martinez contemplated coming out of the dugout to argue, but held back, perhaps recognizing he had just put on a show that went viral last week when he vehemently disagreed with Doug Eddings’ strike zone and was ejected. He didn’t seem to think another tantrum was in his best interests.

* The Nationals plan to bring both Tanner Rainey and Cade Cavalli back to D.C. next week to join their teammates and let team doctors and coaches get an up-close look at both rehabbing pitchers prior to the All-Star break.

Both Rainey and Cavalli are rehabbing from Tommy John surgery, with Rainey much farther along in the process than Cavalli. Rainey, who had the surgery last July, continues to throw off a mound in West Palm Beach, Fla., but has yet to face live hitters. That day should be coming somewhat soon, though, and would be among his final steps before he’s cleared to begin a minor league rehab assignment with one of the Nationals’ affiliates.

Cavalli, who just had the surgery in March, isn’t ready to start throwing yet. But Martinez wants the top pitching prospect to come to Washington, meet with doctors and hang out with teammates in an attempt to boost his spirits as he endures through some of the worst dog days of the 12-month recovery from elbow surgery.