Finnegan blows four-run lead in ninth, sending Nats to defeat (updated)

PHOENIX – The news was only minutes old, and Davey Martinez was still trying to process it and express his thanks to Lane Thomas while also trying to figure out what to do with his lineup for a game that was set to begin in less than three hours.

"It's tough, but I've still got 25 guys out there to get ready to play Arizona," the Nationals manager said shortly after 4 p.m. "They've been playing really well. We've got to be upbeat. It's part of the game. I can only control what I can control, and that's to get these guys ready to play."

The Nats were ready to play tonight, no doubt. They stormed out of the gates to score five runs in the top of the first, then opened up a six-run lead in the top of the sixth and carried a four-run lead into the bottom of the ninth. At which point disaster struck.

Kyle Finnegan, the subject of plenty of trade rumors himself, blew that four-run lead in the ninth and took a shocking 9-8 loss. The All-Star closer retired only one of the six batters he faced, giving up homers to Ketel Marte and ultimately a walk-off homer to Corbin Carroll that left Chase Field shaking and the visitors slumping their way back to the dugout.

"In this game, no lead is ever safe, no team is ever out of it," Finnegan said. "You've got three outs to get to win the game, and they're not going to concede the game. They're not going to give away at-bats. They're trying to win the game. And I think they just took really quality at-bats, and I wasn't able to make good enough pitches to get them out."

Everything seemed to be going so well for the Nationals, whose lineup didn't appear to miss Thomas or Jesse Winker one bit. With a five-run first against Jordan Montgomery, the Nats set the tone right from the get-go. And they didn’t let up, getting at least one hit from all nine starters by the sixth inning.

"We came out swinging the bats really well," Martinez said. "We were one swing away from putting the game away."

Juan Yepez ripped a one-out single to center in the first, Harold Ramírez drew a walk and James Wood (now batting cleanup) drove in the game’s first run with a 102 mph single to center. Keibert Ruiz followed with an RBI double down the left field line to extend the lead, and then the newest face in a group of several new faces delivered the biggest blow of all.

Alex Call, who was promoted from Triple-A Rochester on Sunday to replace Winker on the roster but started in right field tonight in place of Thomas, took a mighty swing at the first-pitch curveball he saw from Montgomery and crushed it to left for a no-doubt, three-run homer and a 5-0 lead.

Call would go on to reach base in each of his first four plate appearances, raising his on-base percentage in eight big league games this season to .560, his slugging percentage to .611. He may not figure into the organization’s long-term outfield plans, but he’s certainly produced in limited opportunities here this year.

"Anytime you get called up, it's great," said Call, who played in his 171st game with the Nationals across several stints the last three seasons. "It's obviously all that you want. You want to be here. This is where I see myself. I'm just grateful for the opportunity to be here and be with these guys."

Ramírez, meanwhile, drove in two more runs to improve to 7-for-10 with five RBIs since he replaced Winker in the eighth inning Saturday night in St. Louis. In 17 total games since joining the team last month, he’s batting .333 with 15 RBIs and an .848 OPS.

All of that early run support allowed Mitchell Parker to pitch in comfort, something that was much appreciated by the rookie left-hander after back-to-back ragged starts. Parker, who totaled only 3 2/3 innings in his last two outings due to exorbitantly high pitch counts, retired the first nine batters he faced tonight on a scant 37 pitches.

The Diamondbacks did get to him for a run in the fourth and another in the fifth, but Parker nonetheless departed comfortably in line for the win, having gone five solid innings on 74 pitches.

"It was huge," Parker said. "I was kind of in a rough patch. So to be able to past, really, that third inning mark was huge for the mind."

The Nationals bullpen didn't make things easy after that, despite inheriting an 8-2 lead in the sixth. Jose A. Ferrer and Derek Law each gave up a run, then Finnegan entered for the bottom of the ninth with a four-run lead and immediately turned it into a one-run lead after surrendering a triple to Alec Thomas, an RBI single to Geraldo Perdomo and a two-run homer to Marte.

"You still have the lead and three outs to get," Finnegan said. "I just tried to start the inning fresh over in my mind. After the first homer, I was just trying to treat it like a one-run save, three outs to get and we have the lead."

Moments later, Carroll blasted his two-run shot to right, and Finnegan made the slow walk back to the dugout. Now he waits to learn his fate come Tuesday afternoon.

"It's out of your control," he said. "We're here to win the game today, and that's what our focus is. That stuff is what it is, and it will play itself out. Whatever happens, happens. I was focused on the game today, and doing my job. And I wasn't able to do that."