After quiet deadline, Nats fall to Brewers (updated)

The 6 p.m. trade deadline came and went without any more moves from the Nationals. The front offices on South Capitol Street remained quiet after yesterday’s deal that sent Jeimer Candelario to the Cubs for two prospects.

So it was back to business as usual for the boys in the navy blue jerseys and curly W caps.

“Play baseball after that," manager Davey Martinez said after letting out a long sigh when asked about his emotions once the deadline passed. "A couple of our players came in at 6:01 p.m. and asked, 'Am I still here?' I go, 'Yeah, you guys are good. You got traded to the Washington Nationals, so congratulations. Keep playing.'”

Although the fact they didn’t trade away any more players may be a sign that the Nats are closer to contention now than they were when they started this rebuilding project at this time two years ago, unfortunately tonight’s on-field result was similar to many around these parts since the 2019 World Series: A 6-4 loss to the Brewers in front of 19,847 fans who came out to Nats Park on a beautiful August night.

Josiah Gray, who was acquired at the 2021 deadline, started the night off strong, but lost his command as the game went on.

The 25-year-old gave up only one run and two hits on 44 pitches through three innings, setting himself up for what could have been his third straight quality start. But then he couldn’t find the strike zone.

During a 37-pitch fourth inning, Gray walked three batters and gave up two hits and a stolen base to allow the Brewers to score four runs before Martinez finally came out to pull the young starter.

“Got the two-pitch out there, and then just a four-pitch walk," Gray said of the fourth inning. "Just things sped up a little bit. I wish I had just refocused after getting that quick out because the guys give me a 3-1 lead. But I wasn't able to refocus. … So things just speeding up a little bit. Just had to take a second longer to just refocus and know that I'm one pitch away from getting out of the inning.”

With Milwaukee having a 5-3 lead, Gray’s night was done after only 3 ⅔ innings, four hits, five runs, three walks and three strikeouts. He departed after 81 pitches, 49 for strikes.

“Just one bad inning," Martinez said. "He lost the strike zone. He was two, three pitches away from getting out of the inning. He just couldn't find the strike zone. He threw a lot of pitches in that inning, so I don't want to keep him out there. But it does happen, so he'll rebound, come back in five days and do it again.”

Gray’s short outing was especially disheartening because it came after he was handed an early 3-1 lead.

Facing a one-run deficit, the Nats rallied for three runs in the second. Dominic Smith singled, advanced to second on a wild pitch from Brewers starter Freddy Peralta and stole third base (his first career steal of third) as Corey Dickerson drew a walk.

Jake Alu, recalled this afternoon from Triple-A Rochester to take Candelario’s spot on the active roster, delivered with his first-career RBI on a single up the middle to tie the game at 1-1. Two batters later, CJ Abrams, another recent deadline acquisition, scored Dickerson and Alu with an RBI single to right, though he was caught turning toward second and tagged out to end the inning.

"It was great. Nice to get it off first AB," Alu said of his first RBI. "Kind of got off to a really hot start there. Unfortunately, we weren't able to keep it going throughout the game. But we'll take it into tomorrow and hopefully get a win.”

“Drove in a big run for us to get us going," Martinez said of Alu. "He stole a base. I thought he did fine. He knows the strike zone, but he likes to swing the bat, which I like. But we got to get him to understand who he is and what he needs to do. But I thought he did well.”

The Nats made Peralta throw 42 pitches through the first two frames, but they only recorded three hits off him over the next four innings. The Brewers righty finished the night with a quality start and the win, allowing just three runs on six hits and two walks with seven strikeouts over six innings on 92 pitches.

“He settled in, he really did," Martinez said. "And he started pounding the strike zone pretty good there. He's good. He's competitive. And we had him on the ropes there earlier. But once you let some of those guys come back and settle down, they get tough.”

It wasn’t until the Nats got to the Brewers bullpen that they finally put up another run. Dickerson barely missed a leadoff homer in the seventh against right-hander Abner Uribe and settled for a triple off the right-field wall, which was also close to being a Little League home run. Alex Call was able to score him with a groundout to short.

The Nats did get scoreless outings from Andrés Machado, Hobie Harris and Joe La Sorsa. But Amos Willingham gave up a leadoff single to Brice Turang and an RBI single to William Contreras in the seventh to put at least one blemish on the bullpen tonight.

“Very good, very good," Martinez said of his 'pen. "Hey, throw strikes. We tell them to come in, throw strikes, make them swing the bats. We got eight guys behind that field their positions. They did well.”

With the deadline passed, the Nats have their roster for the last two months of the season. The next chance for meaningful additions will come when rosters expand in September.

The Nats are on pace for 67 wins this season, which would be a 12-game improvement from last year. This group will continue working toward that the rest of the way.

“I think, for us, we're going to keep doing what we're doing," Gray said. "We're going to keep plugging away with the guys in this clubhouse. … We're gonna keep doing what we can do and go out and win some games and prove people wrong. Just see what we can do in the last two months and hopefully shake up the playoff picture a little bit and just play good baseball.”