Treinen reflects on ninth-inning collapse; more on Baker ejection

A couple of plays could have ended the game:

* Pinch-hitter Victor Caratini's grounder to Daniel Murphy with one out in the ninth. Murphy appeared to have trouble getting the ball out of his glove and was only able to shovel to Stephen Drew for the lead runner Jeimer Candelario.

* Javier Báez singled. Tommy La Stella drove a 1-1 pitch over the outstretched arms of 6-foot Drew. Could the 6-foot-2 Trea Turner have gotten to it?

Jon Jay's two-run double cleared the bases and gave the Cubs the lead, finishing off a dramatic three-run comeback in the ninth. The Nationals went quietly in the bottom of the inning and ended up settling for a four-game series split. The Cubs beat the Nats 5-4.

All those plays hurt certainly, but after Blake Treinen struck out Addison Russell to start the inning, he "yanked" a four-seam fastball inside to Candelario that hit the batter and that ignited the rally.

Manager Dusty Baker said getting behind the hitters also didn't help.

"It started with a hit batsman and then there was a lot of 1-0 counts that you don't get ahead of, of the hitters and then you got to come in there closer to the zone than you want to and it starts with strike one," Baker said.

"Like I said, our bullpen was spent today. We didn't have (Matt) Albers and didn't have (Enny) Romero so we are piecing it out there in the ninth. And Joe (Blanton) came in and got an out after Ollie (Pérez) got two outs and then like I said, a bad series of events."

Treinen, frustrated at his locker, blamed himself for the chain of events.

"No, I felt good. I just didn't execute," Treinen said. "Joe threw a great game, and offense did everything they could to get us out of here with a win, and I came in and didn't do my job. I need to be better. It's getting exhausting, and I'm sure these guys are sick of seeing the same result when I'm out there."

It wasn't supposed to be this way. Treinen started the season as the closer. He was demoted after struggling to get outs in the ninth. Recently, he has worked his way back into the role. Treinen stepped into the ninth inning role Thursday because the bullpen was taxed after being used a lot the last three games of the series.

So will a return to the troubles of the early part of the season affect his confidence?

"No. It's baseball. Things are gonna go bad, things are gonna go good," Treinen said. "You're gonna make pitches, you're not gonna make pitches. A lot of people have the ability to play up here, it's between the ears that keeps people here. I'm not phased by the fact that things didn't go my way out there tonight. I made some good pitches, but at the end of the day, I made bad pitches. They hit me around late, and it cost us."

Baker also got a chance to explain his ejection, which occurred after Ryan Raburn was called out on strikes in the bottom of the sixth.

Baker first approached home plate umpire Chad Fairchild. They argued. Then first base umpire David Rackley and Baker got into it.

"I asked the home plate umpire for, 'Can you get some help?' " Baker explained. "And he said he already asked him and then he said he (was) too far away to see, and I said, 'He clearly foul-tipped it and hit the dirt.'

"I mean, I could see that (the pitch was tipped by Raburn). Big time. And so he said he was too far away and you know evidently he could see because (he) couldn't hear me I don't think. So he said he could hear me say, 'You can't see anyway.' So, he ejected me and it was a bad call and there's no way I should have been ejected."