Disastrous second inning dooms Fedde, Nats in loss (updated)

ATLANTA – It’s been hit or miss for Erick Fedde this year. Really, it’s been hit or miss for Erick Fedde throughout his career. But he hasn’t been put under the microscope until these past two seasons as he has solidified himself in the Nationals rotation.

Sometimes he’s sharp and can use his arsenal effectively to turn in a quality (if not better) start, although he typically gets himself into high pitch counts.

Other times he’s flat and serves up easy pitches for the opponent to hit, which puts his team in a hole and also drives up his pitch count.

Tonight’s series opener against the Braves was the latter as a five-run second inning doomed Fedde and the Nats en route to a 12-2 loss in front of 41,725 fans at Truist Park.

Fedde put himself in a small deficit from the start. In the first inning, he served up a solo home run to Matt Olson on an inside and slightly elevated cutter. He needed 16 pitches to complete the first frame, a pretty standard start for the right-hander.

Then disaster struck in the second, setting up Fedde for a short outing that must have felt like an eternity.

After Marcell Ozuna’s leadoff walk, Eddie Rosario reached on a fielder's choice after falling behind 0-2 (although Luis García made a nice diving stop to get the out at second), moved to second on a wild pitch and stole third (with Keibert Ruiz dropping the transfer from his glove). Fedde then walked William Contreras and Orlando Arcia – again after getting ahead 0-2 on both – to load the bases.

Michael Harris II delivered one big blow, hitting a two-run double to give the Braves a 3-0 lead with one out in the second and two in scoring position for Ronald Acuña Jr. Never a good sign.

Acuña delivered the other big blow in the form of a three-run bolt to left field that he capped off with an emphatic bat slam. Fedde’s 88.9 mph cutter was right in the slugger’s sweet spot: high and in the zone. It was very quickly 6-0.

“I was really trying to put them all away," Fedde said of not recording outs after getting up 0-2 on hitters. "I just feel like, I don't know, I feel like repeating it over in my head just kind of their plan was, I think, looking a little more on the off-speed. And I think about a lot of my outs, they were on the heater and feel like a lot of that hits for breaking stuff. So maybe when I got to better counts, just should've stuck with my heater a little more.”

After the Braves sent nine to the plate, Fedde's pitch count was up to 62 after two innings. He threw 46 in the second frame alone. And he wasn’t done yet.

Contreras hit a solo shot to the Chop House seats in right field on a second-pitch sinker right over the plate in the third. And after the Braves hit three straight singles on three straight pitches to plate another run to begin the fourth, Davey Martinez finally decided Fedde’s night was done.

“Just couldn't finish hitters," Martinez said of his starter. "One inning he had four with (two-strike) counts and walked four guys. Just couldn't finish hitters today.”

The damage: three innings plus three batters, eight hits, eight runs, three walks, one strikeout, one wild pitch and three home runs. Fedde threw 75 pitches, 45 for strikes, to 20 batters faced.

“Just didn't execute some pitches," he said. "They're a powerful offense and made me pay for them, especially hitting them out of the park.”

The only good on the mound for the Nationals tonight came out of the bullpen. Jordan Weems stranded the two runners Fedde left behind and then pitched a scoreless fifth. He completed his third straight scoreless appearance (covering 4 ⅓ innings) with three strikeouts on the night.

“He was really good again," Martinez said of Weems. "I mean, he's been like that his last three outings. He's been really, really good.”

Erasmo Ramirez was on his way to joining Weems in the good news out of the bullpen, pitching shutout sixth and seventh innings, but he took the mound again in the eighth and served up a two-run homer to Harris, whose fourth hit of the night landed in the Chop House’s upper deck. Harris was able to sneak that homer in right before a 75-minute rain delay attributable to a torrential downpour that seemed to come out of nowhere.

The rain delay knocked Ramirez out of the game with only one out in the eighth, so Alcides Escobar took the mound to make his second pitching appearance this week. After also pitching in Tuesday’s blowout loss to the Phillies, Escobar gave up two runs before closing out the inning.

The Nationals’ only offense came on one big swing from Juan Soto. Not to be outdone by Acuña, Soto hit a two-run homer with Lane Thomas on base in the third inning. His 16th of the year came on a high 95.2 mph fastball from Charlie Morton, which Soto sent 106.6 mph off the bat and 418 feet over the center field wall.

“I just saw a pitch that he missed it right on the plate and just make good contact," Soto said. "I was looking for it the whole night and I get it. Finally, I didn't miss it.”

“Juan's starting to swing the bat," Martinez said. "He hit a home run to center field, got a base hit to left field. That's the Soto that we know, so that's great. Hopefully, he continues to keep it going and some of his teammates could join him and we start scoring some runs.”

But apart from Soto's blast, Morton was pretty much dominant, completing seven innings on 105 pitches and striking out seven.

“His curveball was working very well tonight, as you can see," Soto said of the opposing starter. "And he was painting the strike zone with it and throwing that cutter up, down, everywhere. So I think that's why it makes him really good.”

The Nats are now 7-31 on the season within the National League East and have won just two out of their last 22 games against their division rivals. Overall they are 30-56, meaning they are 23-24 against everyone else, and have lost eight of their last nine.

* On the farm, Aníbal Sánchez completed his fourth rehab start, third with Triple-A Rochester. He pitched 5 1/3 innings on four hits, two runs (one earned), three walks and three strikeouts. He threw 88 pitches, 54 for strikes, against the 23 batters he faced.

It will be interesting to see how his progress (and that of Josh Rogers’ rehab and Cade Cavalli’s development) will affect the Nats rotation in the near future.