Dave Martinez’s Mistake Cost The Nationals In New York

The Washington Nationals had a golden opportunity to close out a 4-3 victory against the New York Mets Saturday night, but Dave Martinez got in the way.

Since the Washington Nationals turned their season around in mid-May, Nationals’ skipper Dave Martinez has improved in managing his bullpen. More often than not, Martinez has made the right call in the right spot. Saturday night, however, he did not.

In the biggest game of the season to date, the Nationals held a 4-3 lead over the New York Mets thanks to a go-ahead home run from superstar Juan Soto. At the trade deadline, Washington went out and got right-hander Daniel Hudson for these very situations. Protect a one-run lead and get the game to Sean Doolittle.

Even after being roughed up last night, Doolittle was available as he was seen getting loose in the bullpen. So perfect spot to bring Hudson in, right? Not according to Martinez. The second-year manager went with 42-year-old Fernando Rodney, who despite being solid overall as a National so far, still sports a 6.00 ERA on the season.

Rodney came out of the bullpen and immediately got behind Mets pinch-hitter Luis Guillorme, then promptly served up a meatball that Guilorme deposited into the right-field seats. Rodney got behind the next batter Jeff McNeil as well, and once again threw one right down the middle eventually giving up a single before being pulled. Martinez then called on Hudson to save the day, but he could not.

Now I am all for saying that players win games. Managers decision do not 100% win or lose a game, the players on the field do, but on Saturday night Dave Martinez did not put his team in the best position to win, period. If this is a game against the Miami Marlins and you want to throw Fernando Rodney out there for the eighth I get it, but this is the biggest game of the season to date.

With a loss, Washington would have to beat All-Star Jacob DeGrom just to avoid falling behind the Mets in the standings, and now that is their reality. Now, who knows if Hudson came in to start the inning if he would have held the lead, but I would sure take my chances with him over Rodney.

With this bullpen debacle, Martinez basically made Hudson unavailable in the series finale tomorrow, without pitching him to start the eighth. All in all, so far this series has been a worst-case scenario for our Washington Nationals.