Lineup goes quiet as Nationals drop series finale (updated)

The day began with aggravating - though not terribly shocking, if you've been paying attention - news. Stephen Strasburg was going back on the injured list, this time with right shoulder inflammation, and the $245 million pitcher would not be making his scheduled start against the Diamondbacks.

Rarely in the past have the Nationals not suffered as a result of a Strasburg IL stint, and it's certainly now fair to wonder how they will survive this one, with Patrick Corbin also struggling and Jon Lester still building his arm back up after opening the season on the COVID-19-related IL.

And yet, at least on this cool Sunday afternoon, Strasburg's replacement gave the Nats more than a fighter's chance at a third straight victory over Arizona. Paolo Espino did his part. His teammates did not, and as a result suffered a 5-2 defeat to cap a particularly discouraging day at the ballpark.

Unable to string together much of any offensive attack against Madison Bumgarner or four Diamondbacks relievers, aside from Trea Turner's two solo homers, the Nationals put together an awfully quiet day at the plate. And when Arizona tacked on three late runs against suspect relief pitching and suspect defense, the good vibes from the previous two days had washed away.

With a four-game split against Arizona, the Nats now are 5-8 and awaiting a trip to D.C. from the Cardinals.

"The boys are ready to play every day," said manager Davey Martinez, who also saw reliever Wander Suero go on the IL this morning, in his postgame Zoom session. "They're excited about, for the most part all of them being back, our regular players. They're playing hard every day, every inning of every game. We've got to put this one behind us. When two guys go down like that in the (course) of a day, it's kind of tough. But you know you've got to play that game. You've got to know that help is on the way."

About 2 1/2 hours had passed from the time the Nationals announced Strasburg's placement on the IL and public address announcer Jerome Hruska introduced today's lineup, featuring Espino as the starting pitcher. So most in the crowd of 8,478 probably had advance warning of the change in plans. Still, there had to be at least some folks in the stands who did a double-take upon hearing the news.

It bore some resemblance to the night of July 27, 2010, when a sellout crowd eagerly anticipated the 10th start of Strasburg's career only to start booing when Miguel Batista was announced as his replacement only minutes before first pitch. The journeyman right-hander would proceed to toss five scoreless innings against the Braves, then shrug off the crowd reaction in memorable fashion: "Imagine if you go there to see Miss Universe, and you end up having Miss Iowa, you might get those kind of boos."

Espino, who learned he was being called up around 5 p.m. Saturday, didn't quite turn this into his own "Miss Iowa Moment," but under the circumstances he did as well as could've been expected. The 34-year-old allowed two runs over 4 1/3 solid innings, each coming on a solo homer: Josh Rojas to begin the game, then Carson Kelly to lead off the fourth.

That's all the Diamondbacks mustered against Espino in the fourth major league start of his winding career, second for the Nationals. With a fastball that topped out at 90 mph and an assortment of off-speed stuff, he kept the opposition off-balance enough to keep his team in the game until he was pulled with his pitch count at 75.

"I get the call, and I think I've been around for so long, I don't put any extra pressure (on myself)," he said. "I don't try to overthink anything, and I just try to go with the flow. ... I've been in this situation, getting called up. Also I think the experience of winter ball, all that experience, being in so many different tournaments, every single level, I think it helps me whenever I get this call."

It was enough to give his team a chance, but his teammates couldn't take advantage of the effort.

Though the left-hander they faced today had the name "Bumgarner" on the back of his jersey, this isn't the same pitcher who led the Giants to three World Series titles, the most recent one seven years ago. This version has lost some bite on his fastball, and he entered today's game sporting an 11.20 ERA through three starts in 2021.

The Nationals did produce some loud contact off Bumgarner, with three balls exiting their bats at 99 mph or higher. But only one of those resulted in a hit: Turner's 423-foot solo homer in the bottom of the third. The others (Starlin Castro in the fourth, Yan Gomes in the fifth) were caught at the warning track.

The only other potential rally against Bumgarner came right away in the bottom of the first, but that was quashed by the latest in a string of questionable baserunning maneuvers, several of them by Juan Soto. Leading off first base with two outs, he took second on Castro's slow roller to short, then decided to try for third when the ball trickled away from Asdrúbal Cabrera at first base. Cabrera, though, had little trouble picking it up and throwing across the diamond to nab Soto, ending the inning and killing a potential rally.

"As we all know, there's a rule about making the third out at third base," Martinez said. "From his vantage point, he thought the ball was farther up the line. I watched him; he actually had a pretty good read, a pretty good jump. I thought Cabrera made a pretty good play getting the ball on the base. If he throws the ball anywhere else, he's safe. It's just one of those plays, it's a reactionary play. He saw the ball get up the line, and right away he didn't hesitate, he went. It's just unfortunate Cabrera threw the ball on the base."

Turner would add another homer in the eighth off Ashburn, Va., native Taylor Clarke, but that did little to increase the Nationals' chances of winning on a day when their big-name starter again had to be shut down and the ramifications of that development are about to sink in.

"He's a guy that we expect to go out there every night and pitch a lot of innings and win a lot of ballgames for us," Turner said. "So, yeah, it definitely hurts. But I see how hard he works every single day, and how smart he is and how much effort he puts into just coming to the field and preparing for each and every start. I think he'll be able to get ahead of this, hopefully, and still be able to pitch very meaningful innings for us throughout the season."