Williams can’t complete five as Nats fall to Fish (updated)

MIAMI – Even though Trevor Williams only made 13 starts last year due to a right flexor muscle strain, he pitched well enough to earn a new two-year, $14 million contract from the Nationals over the offseason.

When he was on the mound in 2024, the right-hander was effective, going 6-1 with a 2.03 ERA. The key was simple: Induce weak contact, limit the damage to singles and keep the ball in the yard while facing the order twice. By doing that for roughly five innings, he gave the Nats a good chance to win every five days.

Now back healthy this year, the plan remains the same. Through his first two starts of 2025, Williams stuck with that attack plan. But today against the Marlins, he couldn’t quite keep it together for five innings en route to a 7-6 loss in front of an announced crowd of 18,469 at loanDepot park.

The afternoon was moving along quickly for the 32-year-old. Through the first two innings, he only gave up a solo home run to Matt Mervis leading off the second while throwing a scant 18 pitches.

But he started off the second by giving up three straight singles (the last being a bunt) to load the bases and a sacrifice fly to Kyle Stowers. Williams then reloaded the bases with a walk and allowed another run to score on a wild pitch to give the Marlins a 3-0 lead.

“That's just a little bit unlucky right now," manager Davey Martinez said after the game. "But like I said, man, he's throwing the ball really, really well. He got out of a couple of jams. All in all, I thought we played pretty well. We were down early and came back and we just couldn't finish today.”

Williams settled down in the fourth, but let the fifth get away from him. After back-to-back singles, Williams recorded back-to-back outs, setting himself up to complete five frames yet again. But Eric Wagaman hit an RBI double to knock the right-hander from the game and bring in lefty Colin Poche from the Nats bullpen.

Griffin Conine drove Poche’s third pitch to the right-center gap for a two-run double, closing out Williams’ line at 4 ⅔ innings, eight hits, six runs, one walk and two strikeouts on 81 pitches, 49 strikes.

“It is frustrating, believe me, seeing how many hits I give up," Williams said. "You look at the box and you're like, 'Man, I feel like I didn't give up eight hits today.' But it's just one of those things. They put together some great at-bats. It's a good young club. That lineup's constructed pretty well, so it's something that you tip your hat to them today.”

It was only the second time in Williams’ last 16 starts that he hasn't completed five innings, dating back to the start of last season. And it was the most runs he's been charged with since Sept. 10, 2023, against the Dodgers (also six).

The Nats' lineup almost bailed out their starter like they did last night by staying patient against Sandy Alcantara, only striking out once against the big right-hander.

Facing a 3-0 deficit in the fourth, the Nats rallied to tie the game by having the first five batters reach via a walk, infield single (which was upheld after a Marlins challenge), single, bases-loaded walk and two-run single. Josh Bell’s two RBIs to end the streak were almost four, but his grand slam bid fell a few feet short of the wall in left field.

With two on and no outs, the Nats had a great opportunity to take the lead against the former Cy Young Award winner. But three straight outs ended the threat.

But after the three runs off Williams and Poche in the fifth gave the Marlins another three-run lead, the Nats were stuck playing catch-up and couldn’t quite reel in the Fish.

“I think we fought pretty hard today, especially against a pitcher like Sandy," Williams said. "When we put up that many runs against him, it's something that doesn't happen very often. It's something that we need to capitalize on. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to do that and get the shutdown innings when we needed them. But it was a good-fought game for all the guys on the team today. We fought to the last out.”

The Nats added one run in the sixth on Amed Rosario’s RBI single, but the Marlins responded with an RBI double by Stowers in the bottom frame. Keibert Ruiz and Nathaniel Lowe drove in one run apiece in the seventh to make it a one-run game, but that’s as close as the Nats would get again.

On the bright side, Ruiz finished 3-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI. He’s now hitting .370 with a .985 OPS through 13 games.

“It feels good, obviously, but it (would) feel better if we got the win," Ruiz said. "But we just got to come back tomorrow and try to win the series.”

But that wasn’t enough to overshadow a disappointing loss to the Marlins, which is just the Nats’ third dropped game to Miami in their last 15 matchups since the start of last year.

“We had a good, good day at the plate," Martinez said. "I've said this before: If we can get the ball in the zone and not chase and accept our walks, it lengthens our lineup really, really well. And then we get on for the next guy. That's what we're looking for. We've done a way better job here in the last few days of doing that. It gives us a chance to score some runs and have a big inning. So I'm proud of the guys. They're battling. Tomorrow we got a chance to come out here and win the series.”