Fedde says second inning "sped up a little bit on me"

Right-hander Erick Fedde pitched four scoreless innings Tuesday night as the Nationals faced off against the Cardinals in game two of the series at Nats Park.

But the second inning did not go well as he allowed four runs on four hits.

The big blow was three runs that scored on Matt Carpenter's two-run single and a fielding error by Adam Eaton in right field. Marcell Ozuna opened the scoring with a solo shot.

Look at innings one, three, four and five: The Cardinals managed a walk in the fourth. That was it. Fedde recorded outs 12 out of the 13 matchups.

But then there was that second inning.

The Cardinals' big innings in the second, sixth and ninth frames decided the game in an 11-8 setback for the Nationals. They are now 69-70 with 23 games to play.

Manager Davey Martinez said Fedde relied on his slider too much in the second.

"I told him, at one point he had 50-some pitches and he threw 29 curveballs and sliders. He came in between innings and I said, 'You have to throw your fastball. You have to establish your fastball. You can't keep throwing your sliders and falling behind.' He went back out there. The next inning, I think he threw 9 or 11 pitches, fastballs. All fastballs. I told him, 'You've got a good one. Your ball sinks and cuts. Just go out there and throw it.'"

"I think just that second inning got away from me a little bit," Fedde said. "I started getting a little slider-happy with some of the guys that came up, and I think I just let it take over. Just that little reminder as I was running out of the dugout for the third: 'Stick with that fastball.' I have a lot of faith in it, too. It was a good nudge, because the next couple of innings went pretty smoothly."

Even though the slider might have been overused in the fateful second frame, Fedde got good use out of it at the right times after that.

"My slider was really good today," Fedde noted. "I was able to get the fastball inside on a lot of the righties, which I think the last couple innings really opened everything up."

Fedde also took some solace in watching the offense tie the game up at 4-4. That energized him to keep fighting.

"Yeah, especially having the guys battle back made me feel a lot better in the dugout," Fedde said. "It was nice that they could do that. I felt really healthy. I just want to minimize that inning, and things would've been pretty smooth."

Fedde had gone through several rehab starts to prepare for Tuesday. But he acknowledged the difference between minor league rehab appearances and a major league start.

"It's impossible to recreate that anywhere else," Fedde said of the speed of the game in the bigs. "But you get out here and the adrenaline starts flowing ... it's different. But I've just got to stay composed. And I think that second inning sped up a little bit on me."