Nationals face decision with ineffective Ross after 10-4 loss

OAKLAND, Calif. - There really is only one question the Nationals need to answer right now, in the wake of today's 10-4 loss to the Athletics.

There may be other matters of minor significance to emerge from the game - most notably ninth-inning injuries to Jayson Werth (who fouled a ball off his left foot) and Daniel Murphy (who took a pitch off his right knee) - but the matter of most significance is this: What are they going to do about Joe Ross?

Can a first-place club with the loftiest of aspirations really afford to send the 24-year-old right-hander back to the mound five days from now for a makeup game against the Orioles' potent lineup? After he was roughed up for 12 runs and 18 hits in seven total innings his last two starts by two of the majors' least-imposing lineups?

Dusty Baker isn't ready to make that call just yet.

"We haven't talked about it," the Nationals manager said. "The game just ended. Just have to go back to the drawing board and see."

If not Ross, though, who can the Nationals trust to be their No. 5 starter, both in the short term and long term?

Jacob Turner did an admirable job in long relief this afternoon, tossing three scoreless innings before running out of gas in the seventh and allowing back-to-back homers that turned this game into a rout. But the journeyman right-hander has had issues himself getting through a lineup two or three times.

The Nationals' options at Triple-A Syracuse, meanwhile, don't inspire a lot of confidence, either. And top pitching prospect Erick Fedde is still transitioning to a bullpen role at Double-A Harrisburg, with eyes on a promotion to Washington sometime this summer.

There may not be an answer to this dilemma for several days. Ross, though, didn't give the club much reason to believe he deserves another start after today's performance.

Ross dug the Nationals into a big hole early, serving up a pair of two-run homers in the bottom of the first. Jed Lowrie launched a 2-2 fastball to right-center to get things started for the A's. Ryon Healy then continued the barrage by drilling a 2-1 slider to a similar area of the ballpark.

"I just didn't execute a few pitches, another two-strike slider to a lefty turned into a home run," he said. "I just didn't really capitalize on some at-bats where I was in the driver's seat, I guess you could say."

All told, Ross needed 82 pitches just to complete three innings, allowing seven runs (six earned).

"It's on me," he said. "I didn't really give us a good chance to win. Seven runs in the first three innings? Probably not gonna do it."

That this happened with a bunch of family members and friends in attendance for Ross' first professional start in his hometown didn't help matters.

"He wanted it so bad, and between innings he was upset about the last inning," Baker said. "Then he would go out and look like he was fighting Joe. The one inning he threw the ball good, I went out there and told him to quit fighting Joe. I know how bad he wanted to pitch well here in Oakland, especially with his parents and family and everybody here."

It would be one thing had this been an isolated incident, but that's not the case with Ross. He was ragged six days ago against the Padres, another weak-hitting club. In six big league starts this season, he now owns a 7.34 ERA, having surrendered 43 hits (nine of them homers) in 30 2/3 innings.

Ross already has been demoted to Triple-A Syracuse twice this season. He insisted he's not letting the fear of a third demotion affect his performance.

"No, I'm pitching to go out and win a game," he said. "I can't worry about things like that during the game. I'll just hurt myself if I do that."

Once Ross departed, Turner took over and did settle things down with three scoreless innings of relief on 38 pitches. But then Yonder Alonso and Healy crushed back-to-back towering homers in the bottom of the seventh, the latest sign of Turner's fading stamina.

Despite their pitching woes, the Nationals did have opportunities to mount a comeback in this game. Adam Lind's three-run homer in the top of the third briefly trimmed the deficit to 6-4, but that was the last clutch hit the Nats got.

They stranded the bases loaded in the fifth when Michael A. Taylor struck out on three pitches. They left two men in scoring position in the sixth when Werth struck out swinging.

Of greater concern was a squandered ninth-inning rally in which both Werth and Murphy went down in a heap at the plate with injuries. Both stayed in the game, at least for a little bit, though Werth had to depart after reaching first base.

His left ankle swollen, Werth propped up his leg on a chair in the clubhouse afterward. He couldn't say yet whether he'd be able to play in Sunday's series finale, but he didn't sound terribly worried about the long term.

"Gotta see how I wake up," he said. "Usually, if it swells up, it's going to be tough. But if it doesn't swell up, it'll be all right."