Washington Nationals Rapid Reactions: Tanner Roark And Danny Espinosa Help Snap Losing Streak

By Ricky Keeler |

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Jun 4, 2015; Washington, DC, USA; Washington Nationals center fielder Denard Span (2) is unable to catch the single hit by Chicago Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant (17) during the fifth inning at Nationals Park. Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports

Coming into Friday night’s game against the Chicago Cubs, all the talk around the Washington Nationals was about their struggling offense. They had scored one run over their last 22 innings and had difficulties getting the big hit with runners in scoring position.

Due to the offensive issues, manager Matt Williams decided to make a lineup switch before Friday’s game. He moved Ryan Zimmerman up to the number two spot to try to get him better pitches to hit in front of Bryce Harper. Coming into the night, the Nats first baseman was a .253 hitter out of that spot in the order. Last night, he went 1-for-5.

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In the 7-5 win last night Danny Espinosa, who will see less playing time when both Yunel Escobar and Anthony Rendon are in the lineup, came up with a big hit to get the offense started. His three-run home run over the Cubs bullpen in the bottom of the second gave the Nats a 3-0 lead. Who would have thought in June that Espinosa would be second on the team in home runs (seven), behind only Bryce Harper?

Those three runs gave Tanner Roark a good cushion to work with. More importantly, the Nats found a way to get more insurance runs to pad the lead and put less pressure on the bullpen, which has looked better in the first two games of this series. By snapping their three game losing streak, the team puts less pressure on Joe Ross today. Unlike A.J. Cole, the 22-year-old Ross will get a chance to make his debut without having the pressure of trying to stop a losing streak.

With the Nats win last night and the Mets losing 7-2 in Arizona, Washington will enter this afternoon’s game as the leaders once again in the NL East. Before Ross makes his debut at 12:05 PM ET today, let’s take a look at some of my takeaways from last night’s game:

May 4, 2015; Washington, DC, USA; Washington Nationals relief pitcher Tanner Roark (57) throws to the Miami Marlins during the ninth inning at Nationals Park. The Washington Nationals won 6-4. Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports

Tanner Roark’s Issue With Giving Up The Long Ball

Right out of the gate, Roark came out with great velocity on his fastball. On his first strikeout of the night, he got the fastball up to 96 miles per hour to get Kris Bryant looking. In the second, he struck out Junior Lake swinging with a 95 mph fastball.

Like his last start in Cincinnati, he did not give up a hit until the fourth inning. That’s when Anthony Rizzo took over. With one out, Rizzo blasted a two-seam fastball deep to right field for a solo shot to put the Cubs on the board.

Two innings later, Rizzo took a 3-2 two-seam fastball to dead center for his second home run of the game (11th of the season). With Roark tiring out in the sixth, he would not end his outing on a great note. Miguel Montero took a 2-1 two-seamer to dead center for a two-run homer of his own.

Even though Roark has been solid for the Nationals in his first three games as a starter, he has been vulnerable to giving up the long ball. In three games, he has given up six home runs. Despite giving up those long balls, Roark did a good job at pounding the strike zone. Out of his 97 pitches, 65 went for strikes. In addition, 18 of the 22 batters that the right-hander faced saw a first-pitch strike.

Even though Roark is a former starter, he definitely isn’t used to throwing 90 pitches per start just yet. You have to wonder why Williams did not have anybody warming up in the bullpen to start the sixth in case Roark got into trouble.

With the Nationals rotation currently having two pitchers on the disabled list, Roark has been able to keep the team in games and prevent the crooked innings from happening on most occasions. Even though he gave up three home runs, the fact that his velocity was up and he was able to control his pitches is a good sign for the 28-year-old going forward.

Next: Espinosa Major Part Of Offensive Success

Jun 4, 2015; Washington, DC, USA; Washington Nationals second baseman Danny Espinosa (8) forces out Chicago Cubs center fielder Dexter Fowler (24) during the eighth inning at Nationals Park. The Chicago Cubs won 2-1. Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports

Bottom Of The Order Scores The Bulk Of The Runs

As was evident in the month of May, the Nationals are a great offensive team when everyone is contributing in some way, shape, or form. Tonight, it was mostly about the bottom of the order as they were the ones that got the team out of their run scoring woes.

Against Tsuyoshi Wada, a starter that the Nats saw on May 25, Washington did a much better job of hitting the ball hard early and often. In the second inning, the Nationals found a way to get on the board first, which was big.

Wilson Ramos led off with a single and then Ian Desmond doubled down the left field line. That set the stage for the right-handed Espinosa, who crushed a 89 mph fastball over the bullpen in left.

The runs from the bottom of the order didn’t stop there. After Espinosa’s ground-rule double in the fourth, which got stuck in the bottom of the left field wall, Michael Taylor got the job done by driving in Desmond with a sacrifice fly to right.

When the Cubs cut the lead to 5-4 in the sixth, Washington needed to tack on insurance runs and they got it done. Whether it was Wilson Ramos’ two-out double in the seventh or Dan Uggla’s pinch-hit double in the eight, the bottom five hitters in the lineup got the job done. The combination of Ramos, Desmond, Espinosa, Taylor, Roark, and Uggla went 8-for-17 and drove in six runs. Espinosa was the star of the night, going 2-for-4 with three RBI’s

However, let’s focus on Dan Uggla for a second. One of the weaknesses of this Nationals team has been their bench, so it was big for Uggla to get that seventh run on the board. As a team, the Nats now have 12 hits by a pinch-hitter and seven RBI’s. Last night, Uggla had his first RBI of the season in that role.

Even though Espinosa might not see regular playing time going forward, he can still be a valuable asset to the Nationals off the bench. Plus, you have to give him credit for making a good tag on Kris Bryant in the top of the fourth inning. The Nats second baseman dove to the bag to make the play, which was started by a great throw from Taylor.

The offense was able to click last night with eight of the nine starters recording a hit, but it will be interesting to see if the team can keep that success going against a starter in Jason Hammel, who is 8-0 against them in his career. If that’s going to happen, they need to be better than the 3-for-10 that they were last night with runners in scoring position.

Next: Bullpen Showing Signs Of Improvement

Jun 2, 2015; Washington, DC, USA; Washington Nationals relief pitcher Blake Treinen (64) throws to the Toronto Blue Jays during the seventh inning in game two of a double header at Nationals Park. Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports

Bullpen Getting Back On Track?

After the bullpen had its fair share of struggles against Cincinnati and Toronto, they have pitched well in the first two games of this series against the Cubs. After Roark left the game in the top of the sixth inning, Aaron Barrett, Casey Janssen, Blake Treinen, and Drew Storen, gave up one run over the final 3.1 innings. That run actually came off of Storen when Chris Coghlan had a two-out RBI single in the ninth.

Personally, I was surprised when Williams went to Casey Janssen to pitch the seventh inning, but he does not like to put certain relievers in set roles. After Barrett got the final out of the sixth, Janssen was able to hold the Cubs to one hit in the seventh. However, that hit came via a single from the opposing reliever, Travis Wood.

The MVP out of the bullpen last night was Treinen. The 26-year-old had to face the heart of the Cubs order in the eighth (Fowler, Rizzo, and Bryant) and was very dominant. He struck out Fowler looking with a 98 mph sinker and struck out Kris Bryant on three pitches, ending the at-bat with a slider.

Sandwiched in between those Fowler and Bryant at-bats was Treinen being helped out by his defense. Denard Span took an extra-base hit away from Rizzo when he leaped to make the catch on a ball that looked like it would hit the top of the wall. This is no surprise from a player like Span, who has been great defensively this season.

Even though Storen did give up a run for the first time since April 21, he has still been one of the best closers in the National League. He has 18 saves in 19 chances, has a 1.16 ERA, and has 30 strikeouts to only three walks. He got into some two-out trouble, but he was able to get pinch-hitter Matt Szczur to look at a slider for the final out of the game.

The Nationals bullpen isn’t great, but I think it is safe to say that it is not as bad as they were in Cincinnati. All five games against the Cubs have been decided by three runs or less and Washington’s bullpen, for the most part, has kept the lead in those games.

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