What kills a rally faster than a failed bunt attempt? You’re right, nothing. The Washington Nationals offense, with three shutouts in their past four games, had finally strung a few hits together and were on the verge of a big inning when they decided to play for one run.
Josh Harrison squared for a safety squeeze and popped out, when a long fly ball would have scored the runner from third base. A nicely placed ground ball would have scored the runner from third base. There are a lot of scenarios that get that runner home, from third base. A popped up bunt is not one of them.
The Washington Nationals were on the verge of breaking out in the sixth inning, when Josh Harrison popped a bunt up, ending the threat.
On the surface this doesn’t look like a good play. When we dig a little deeper, it’s an even worse decision. Was Harrison giving the bunt sign because he is fresh out of COVID protocols and his bat was a little rusty? Did manager Davey Martinez show a lack of trust in Harrison? Did Martinez think a three run lead with twelve outs remaining was the be-all-end-all? Baseball managers/players are supposed to have a short memory, but did Davey forget what happened to that three run lead the Nats had the last time Erick Fedde pitched?
It evaporated. And fast.
While Harrison can handle the bat, he hasn’t had a successful sacrifice bunt since 2018. Does anyone outside of pitchers take sac bunting seriously in batting practice?
Josh Harrison just tried a safety squeeze and popped it out to Nolan Arenado. That's a head scratcher when all you need is another flyball to get a fourth run home.
— Jesse Dougherty (@dougherty_jesse) April 13, 2021
As much as the game has changed and the focus on metrics says teams shouldn’t give away outs by bunting, there is still a time and place to bunt to advance runners. While I dislike the extra-inning rule of putting a runner on second base, I do believe unless the next hitter is Juan Soto, he should be bunting that runner to third.
Small ball has it’s place. When three of the first four runners of an inning reach base and the team has pushed across two runs, after scoring one the past 14 innings, there is no room for bunting within that scenario.
For the Nationals sake, the error in judgement did not cost them. Andrew Stevenson belted a solo home run an inning later, before another insurance run the inning after that.
Moving forward, more trust for the hitters, and less safety squeeze attempts.