Finnegan blows late rally, Nats eliminated with loss (updated)

There are only so many ways to say this, and given the frequency with which it's happening, we're running dangerously low on options. So I'll be blunt: The Nationals bullpen blew two more leads in Friday's 9-8 loss to the Rockies on South Capitol Street.

Handed a one-run lead after a late rally in the eighth, Kyle Finnegan needed only three outs in the ninth to seal a win and record his 10th save of the season. Instead, he gave up a leadoff game-tying home run to blow his fourth save opportunity of the season, second in as many outings. Then after a single, walk and sacrifice bunt, the right-hander gave up the game-winning run on a single to left field by Brendan Rodgers.

"He's just, you know, pitch location. I mean, call fastball away, he's throwing them in. Just missing his spots," manager Davey Martinez said of Finnegan's outing during his postgame Zoom session with reporters. "We got to get him back zoned in like he was pretty much all season. He's just yanking pitches, uncharacteristic. We try to go away on (Elias) Díaz, he threw the ball in. He missed his spot by 18 inches. So we got to get him back. We got to get him back throwing the ball down, away, where he was good, and elevated when he needs to. But he's just missing his location."

Usually, the Nats offense can be counted on to make a late-inning rally. And tonight, they came up big once again. You just wish it would have been enough to cut this marathon short of 4 hours and 4 minutes.

Down 7-6, Ryan Zimmerman, who received another standing ovation from the crowd, delivered a pinch-hit double with one out in the eighth inning. Leadoff man Lane Thomas then drew a seven-pitch walk to put two on with one out for Alcides Escobar. The shortstop was able to slap a single the other way to score Zimmerman and tie the game at 7-7.

After Juan Soto drew his third walk of the game (one intentional) to load the bases, Josh Bell hit a soft grounder up the middle that the Rockies couldn't turn for a double play, scoring Thomas and giving the Nats a late 8-7 lead.

Soto started his evening with a single and finished as the first major league player to reach base four times in a game 21 times in a season since Barry Bonds in 2004.

If you read my pregame post, you knew what tonight's goal was for Josiah Gray against the Rockies: Limit the walks and home runs to earn his first major league win.

Long story short, he didn't exactly do that. But he did improve from his last outing. And although he pitched well enough to be in line for the win, the Nationals bullpen blew another lead.

The evening didn't start well for Gray, who issued back-to-back walks to the first two batters he faced. Both of those baserunners would come around to score in the top of the first to give the Rockies a quick 2-0 lead. But after Charlie Blackmon's RBI double, Gray would proceed to retire 14 of the next 15 batters.

The only blip was another walk, which came back to bite him again in the fifth.

After striking out the first two batters, Gray got ahead of Rockies leadoff hitter Garrett Hampson 0-2 for the chance to strike out the side. But he ended up walking Hampson on eight pitches to set up Rodgers' two-run home run to shrink a 6-2 lead down to 6-4.

Gray would come back out to start the top of the sixth, but was replaced by Alberto Baldonado after a leadoff double and flyout. The right-hander walked off the field to a standing ovation from the crowd of 21,195 at Nationals Park after a gutsy effort.

His final line wasn't great, but it was an improvement: 5 1/3 innings, three hits, five runs, four walks, five strikeouts, one home run and one wild pitch on 94 pitches, 58 strikes. The walks were down from his last start, in which he gave up a career-high six free passes, and he continues to surrender longballs, at least one in each of his outings to begin his big league career. But the damage was limited and he actually left the game as the pitcher of record, poised for his first win in the majors.

"Man, honestly, I'm just going to take away all the positives," Gray said. "Today was so much better than the last three outings before this. And obviously the first, it was a little rough with the two walks and then the double. But even then, I struck out (Trevor) Story and then I got to flyouts on back-to-back pitches. That makes a difference in me getting to the sixth inning. So I'm just gonna take the positives from today. I'm really, really happy with today. And as you said, the middle innings were a lot sharper and that at-bat to Rodgers, we had him 0-2. Even that at-bat to Hampton was 0-2, he fought off some tough pitches. So honestly, I'm just going to take away the positives from that and ride the high because I know I did a lot of good things today."

Enter Baldonado.

The left-handed reliever gave up an RBI single to the first batter he faced in relief of Gray, and then two batters later surrendered a go-ahead two-run home run to No. 8 hitter Sam Hilliard in a lefty-lefty matchup.

The relievers between Baldonado and Finnegan actually fared really well, with 1-2-3 innings by Mason Thompson and Patrick Murphy.

The Nats jumped out to an early lead with a fourth-inning outburst. After tying the game at 2-2 in the bottom of the first, the Nationals poured it on Rockies starter Germán Márquez in the fourth. Three straight singles by Keibert Ruiz, Carter Kieboom and Luis García gave the Nats a 3-2 lead. Up stepped Thomas, who crushed an 87 mph slider on an 0-1 pitch for a three-run home run and 6-2 lead.

"I think just, after you see a starter a few times, you just kind of anticipate some certain counts, certain pitches," Thomas said of his improving power at the plate. "And I've just been, I guess, getting a little lucky with those counts lately and taking advantage of the pitches I'm swinging at. So that's all I got about that."

Ruiz would finish the night with his second straight three-hit game.

That lead and the late lead, of course, wouldn't stand, as no lead really seems safe for this team nowadays. But the ever-scrappy offense tried its best to bail out another poor performance from the bullpen.

With this loss, the Nats are officially eliminated from playoff contention, both in the National League East and NL wild card races. Though we've known this has been coming for a while, the Nationals will miss the postseason in consecutive seasons for the first time since 2010-11.

"Let me tell you, I want to win every game. I'm not a big fan of losing, believe me," Martinez said. "But we're young. Like I said, I'm gonna stay positive. We're gonna stick to the process. And these guys are all going to get an opportunity to be out there. And we need to see what we have for the upcoming years. I mean not just next year, but for many years. So these guys are all going to get an opportunity to go out there and perform. And some guys are doing well. Really well. Some guys are struggling a little bit, but I believe that they're going to turn it around. So we just got to keep going."