Benches empty and bullpen implodes again in 6-1 loss (updated)

PITTSBURGH – A sleepy game between the Nationals and Pirates, one that saw the two teams combine for one run through six innings before a quiet, four-figure crowd at PNC Park, turned loud in the bottom of the seventh tonight.

Loud because of Jorge López’s inability to throw strikes. Loud because of the unwarranted clearing of benches and bullpens his lack of command caused. Loud because of the surprise ejection of López by an umpiring crew that didn’t seem inclined to do anything until Pirates manager Derek Shelton came out of the dugout to argue.

And, ultimately, loud because of the grand slam Oneil Cruz crushed off Eduardo Salazar to turn a tight, low-scoring affair into a 6-1 rout by Pittsburgh in the latest example of a Washington bullpen implosion.

The particulars might have looked different, but the result was all too familiar for the Nationals, who had already seen their beleaguered relief corps turn two close contests into blowouts on this road trip alone. And it cost them another shot at a late-inning rally that could’ve flipped the game back in their direction. (Though it might have been too much to ask for a rally from a lineup that sent the minimum 24 batters to the plate through eight innings before a too-late rally in the ninth.)

"The key was we couldn't score any runs," manager Davey Martinez said. "We started swinging the bats late in the game, but our bats didn't show up today."

López took over the seventh after Mitchell Parker authored six strong innings of one-run ball but departed with the Nats trailing 1-0. The veteran right-hander immediately gave up singles to Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Enmanuel Valdez, then a run-scoring groundout to Henry Davis that made it 2-0.

Following a groundout by Ke’Bryan Hayes, things really turned ugly. López hit Bryan Reynolds in the arm with a pitch, then lost control of his third pitch to Andrew McCutchen, the ball sailing over the star right fielder’s head. There was no immediate reaction by the umpires, but when Shelton came out of the dugout to argue, López started talking to McCutchen to insist it wasn't on purpose, and that prompted both benches and bullpens to empty.

"I was trying to resolve the problem," López said. "He knows I always pitch in. Just I got a (pitch) and it just went in-up. I told him ... I know what you're talking about. I'm just here to tell you, I got no problem with you. It's just part of the game where we don't want to be, but just another lesson to learn."

Reynolds and McCutchen did hit back-to-back homers off López late last season while the pitcher was with the Cubs, but he insisted that had nothing to do with what happened tonight.

"Hell, no," he said. "It's seven months."

Once order was restored, with nothing close to resembling a punch thrown, the umpires huddled up and then decided to eject López. Martinez sought answers from Ron Kulpa’s crew and did not appear to put up too much of a fight once it was explained to him.

"I don't necessarily think it was warranted, but the umpires saw it differently, so they ejected Jorge," the manager said. "Unfortunately, it was a good game up to that point, and things got out of hand."

Salazar was tasked with replacing López on the mound, inheriting a 2-1 count to McCutchen, who eventually walked. And then moments later, Cruz launched a ball over the 21-foot Clemente Wall in right field for the grand slam that blew the game open and dealt another blow to a Nationals bullpen that has taken far too many of them through the season’s first three weeks.

"He's just got to get more aggressive," Martinez said. "He's got really good stuff. We saw it spring training. I saw it earlier. He's got to get to being a little more aggressive and utilizing his fastball to get ahead. I think he's throwing too many breaking pitches."

The Nats rode James Wood’s leadoff homer Tuesday night to victory, playing much more loose and free with a lead from the get-go. They had no such luxury tonight, completely stymied by Pirates starter Bailey Falter from the outset.

Falter faced the minimum through seven innings, with the only three batters who reached base against him immediately erased. Wood, who singled to center with one out in the first, was thrown out trying to steal second. Nathaniel Lowe, who singled to center in the fifth, watched as Josh Bell grounded into a subsequent 5-4-3 double play. And Luis García Jr., who drew a one-out walk in the sixth, watched as Nasim Nuñez grounded into a 4-6-3 double play.

"He had a good fastball going," Lowe said of Falter, who entered 0-2 with a 7.20 ERA. "He had a good little mix, throwing a bunch of strikes with a bunch of pitches. Anytime you play in Pittsburgh early ... you can blame the cold. But that's a good major league starter who had a really good start." 

Parker did his best to keep pace, and the young lefty got his night off to a fabulous start, striking out the first four batters he faced, three of them via curveball and another via splitter. Parker did get himself into a bases-loaded jam in the second but battled back to induce a fly ball out of No. 9 hitter Henry Davis and escape the jam unscathed.

There was nothing Parker could do to escape the fifth, because Davis ensured nobody could field his drive to left field, the ball clanging off the foul pole for a solo homer and a 1-0 lead for Pittsburgh.

"It's his job to put a good swing on it. It's my job to make a good pitch," Parker said. "He beat me."

Parker would wind up going six innings allowing just the one run, his final frame featuring one of the stranger plays you’ll ever see. With one out and Cruz on first, Tommy Pham hit a sinking liner to left. Wood charged in and tried to snag the ball on the fly, but it barely touched grass before settling into his glove. Cruz, thinking the ball had been caught, ran back to first base. Wood fired the ball in that direction, with Lowe catching the throw with his foot on the bag before Pham got there, then tagging Cruz (who was standing on the base).

It took several minutes for the umpires to confer, but they emerged with the correct call. Pham was out on the rarest of rare plays: a 7-3 groundout. Cruz, meanwhile, was allowed to remain at first base because he wasn’t tagged until after the batter was retired, negating the force play.

"What a wild play, huh?" Lowe said. "I thought James caught the ball in left. He made a nice throw getting it back to me, and I thought my foot was on the base before Cruz made it back. Interesting out there. But obviously since it was a trap and the batter didn't make it to first base, that's how it goes."

So it was that Parker departed having allowed one run over six stellar innings on 89 pitches, lowering his ERA to 1.85, yet found himself in line for the loss because his teammates couldn’t supply him even one run of support.

"Team sport. You win as a team, you lose as a team," the lefty said. "You can pick good things out of (my start), but at the end of the day it's a team sport."

López and Salazar then made the possibility of a late rally far less plausible with their seventh-inning implosion.