The Washington Nationals nearly lost another game thanks to a meltdown from the bullpen. The Nats still do not have a reliable option for the middle innings.
The Washington Nationals lost another game in the late innings thanks to a bullpen blowup.
At the center of it, once again, is Trevor Rosenthal. He faced two more batters today and walked both of them. His ERA remains at infinity as he has yet to retire any of the seven batters he has faced this season.
In a similar fashion as Sunday’s game, Kyle Barraclough inherited a bad situation and made it worse by allowing an earned run of his own to score.
Additionally, Tony Sipp allowed an earned run and recorded only one out.
I’m just as tired writing about the Nationals bullpen as you all are reading about it. But it’s the only thing we can talk about.
With any other team, we would be raving over the fact Juan Soto, Anthony Rendon, and Ryan Zimmerman all hit home runs off of Aaron Nola.
In the bottom of the ninth, the Nats walked off the Phillies on a bases-loaded walk from the 25th man to make the Opening Day roster, Jake Noll.
However, when the bullpen nearly rendered those offensive outputs obsolete, that becomes the story anyone can talk about.
How on Earth can the Nationals tag Nola for six earned runs and have the game tied 8-8 heading into the ninth inning? That is inexcusable.
Davey Martinez is clearly at fault for the way the events unfolded on Wednesday. He mismanaged his bullpen by allowing Rosenthal to enter the game in the first place. When he let the game get tight, Martinez brought in Barraclough, and not Doolittle.
Hindsight is obviously 20/20, but those decisions are horrendous.
At this point, even Craig Kimbrel might not save this team. The entire bullpen needs an overhaul. If no significant changes are made to the bullpen or the managerial staff, Nats fans are in for a long season.