Washington Nationals: Three Takeaways From 7-6 Loss To Royals
For the second time this year, the Washington Nationals end up losing the game to the Royals due to a blown save by Jonathan Papelbon
Last night, the Washington Nationals (18-8) were three outs away from improving to 5-0 on this tough ten game road trip. However, they saw something that everyone has seen the last two years from the Kansas City Royals (14-12), which is that they keep fighting until the last out.
The Royals scored four runs in the final two innings, including three against Jonathan Papelbon in the bottom of the ninth to pull off a 7-6 win. This took away a win from Tanner Roark, who was able to pitch into the eighth inning as he put up another strong outing. Instead, it was former National Chien-Ming Wang, who got the win for Kansas City.
On offense, while Bryce Harper’s slump continues (one hit in his last 23 at-bats), the other bats in the lineup have been able to step up and help him out. Anthony Rendon hit his first home run of the season, Wilson Ramos went 3-for-4 in his first game since coming off the bereavement list, and Daniel Murphy hit his third home run of the year.
Despite a tough loss last night, the Washington Nationals still have a chance to win the series this afternoon and secure nothing worse than a .500 road trip with four games left against the Cubs, starting tomorrow night.
Before Stephen Strasburg takes on Kris Medlen in the series finale this afternoon (2:15 p.m ET, MASN), here are my three takeaways from last night’s 7-6 loss to the Royals:
Next: Roark Puts Up Good Performance
Roark Puts Up Good Performance
Even though the Royals lineup had been struggling heading into last night’s game, this was an interesting test for Roark, who was coming off back-to-back shutouts. This Kansas City team has a way of working up the pitch count and making you work for every out.
With that being said, he had the one bad inning in the third, but was able to put together a good stat line. He went 7.1 innings, gave up four runs (three earned runs) on six hits (all singles), struck out four, and walked two on 101 pitches (64 strikes) in the no-decision.
As I mentioned, the tough inning for Roark was that third inning when his command of his two-seam fastball was off as he walked two of the first three batters he faced. Then, Alcides Escobar hit a fastball to right for a base hit for Kansas City’s first run. Two batters later, Eric Hosmer hit a 1-2 two-seamer past Daniel Murphy for a two-run single.
However, when you look at Roark’s pitch count, he only had one inning in which he threw more than 17 pitches and that was in the third inning (29). He was able to go deep into the game, but he gave up the back-to-back singles to Escobar and Lorenzo Cain in the eighth.
Since the home opener against the Marlins, Roark has pitched into the seventh inning or later in four of his last five outings. While the walks are something he has to fix, he still had a good opportunity to win last night’s game.
Next: Offense Stands Out In The 6th
Offense Stands Out In The 6th Inning
Through the first five innings, the Washington Nationals offense managed only two solo home runs against Chris Young (Rendon and Murphy). In the fifth inning, they were able to get Young out of the game, but Bryce Harper grounded out against Luke Hochevar with the bases loaded and two outs.
But, the Nationals were able to put up a crooked inning against Hochevar in the sixth. With Ryan Zimmerman and Jayson Werth (who homered in the eighth against Dillon Gee) on first with one out, Ramos tied the game with a RBI ground rule double.
It’s good for the Nats to have Ramos back in the lineup because he was one of their consistent hitters before he went back to Venezuela because of the death of his grandfather. The Nats’ catcher has six hits in his last 13 at-bats with three doubles and three RBI’s.
After a groundout by Danny Espinosa put the Nats back in front, Chris Heisey got the chance to make an impact in the starting lineup and delivered. Heisey, who got the start in left field while Werth was the designated hitter, hit a first pitch fastball to center for a RBI triple to give the Nats a 5-3 lead at the time.
While the Royals bullpen is one of the better ones in the league, the Nats have yet to see Wade Davis or Kelvin Herrera in this series. That being said, they did a good job last night of getting Young out of the game early and getting into the middle relief after a shaky outing by Kansas City’s starter.
Next: Time To Be Concerned About Papelbon
Time To Be Concerned About Papelbon
On Monday night, Jonathan Papelbon had a perfect ninth inning against the Royals. However, last night was anything but perfect. For the second time this season, Papelbon not only blew the save, but also lost the game in the same inning.
The Royals hit singles the entire inning and it worked for them. Alex Gordon led off with a single through the shift and Salvador Perez ripped a single to left. Kansas City brought in Terrence Gore to pinch run for Perez and he was able to steal second despite a good throw by Ramos.
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As the inning continued, Papelbon did strike out Omar Infante, but Mike Moustakas was able to hit a 2-2 splitter into center for the tying hit. Later in the inning, after an Escobar base hit, Lorenzo Cain hit a 0-2 fastball into center field to end up winning the game.
The Royals are going to do this to a lot of teams throughout the season and that’s why they are never out of any game, but there is a lot to be concerned about regarding Papelbon. According to Fangraphs, his contact percentage of swings put in play by teams is 83.2%.
Next: Recap: Papelbon Blows Save, Nats Fall In 9th To Royals
While he showed good movement on his fastball, the declining velocity is also a concern and it doesn’t allow much margin for error. Right now, his average velocity is at 90.8 miles per hour (Fangraphs). That doesn’t mean he can’t be an effective closer, according to his manager, Dusty Baker:
Dusty on Papelbon not missing bats: "There’s a lot of closers that don’t miss bats. It’s a matter of location, more than anything."
— Mark Zuckerman (@MarkZuckerman) May 4, 2016
I do think Papelbon can be effective as the closer for the Washington Nationals going forward, but at the same time, this is something to keep monitoring as to whether or not he can consistently get the job done.