CJ Abrams led off the bottom of the first inning of Tuesday night’s game by doing exactly what a leadoff hitter is expected to do: work the count, extend the at-bat and set the tone for his teammates in the ensuing plate appearances.
The Washington Nationals shortstop saw six pitches before he popped out to first. In a 4-0 loss to the San Diego Padres at Nationals Park, that six-pitch at-bat stood as something of an anomaly for Washington hitters. It was the second-longest of the night against Padres starter Randy Vásquez.
By the time Vásquez exited in the seventh, he had thrown just 68 pitches (47 for strikes). Of the Nationals’ 22 plate appearances against Vásquez, 14 lasted three pitches or fewer, and 19 were four pitches or fewer. San Diego pitchers threw just 102 pitches total, and Washington managed just five hits.
“It seems like we just got a lot of early swings and didn’t work any good at-bats,” Manager Dave Martinez said. “We hit some balls hard but just really couldn’t get any good swings off.”
For the past few seasons, the Nationals (47-54) have boasted a low strikeout rate and a knack for putting the ball in play. On Tuesday night, they struck out just four times. That, however, was thanks in large part to at-bats not lasting long enough to get into a two-strike count. They put balls in play but weakly, often ending in flyouts or weak groundouts. They finished without a walk.
“Sometimes you’ve got to take a strike and see what’s going on,” Martinez said. “We missed a lot of pitches we should’ve hit. And that was that. We got pitches to hit. We just popped them up.”
Vásquez, mixing his repertoire, kept Washington off balance. Of his 68 pitches, 17 were cutters, 16 were curveballs and 15 were four-seam fastballs to go along with eight sweepers, seven sinkers and five change-ups. And since Vásquez was around the zone all night, the Nationals couldn’t sit on any one pitch.
“That guy was very in the zone,” Juan Yepez said. “So just being aggressive and trying to put the ball in the air, but then we were putting the ball too much in the air.”
Washington had a chance to grab a lead in the third when Trey Lipscomb led off with a double and Jacob Young bunted him over to third. But Abrams popped out on the third pitch of the at-bat. Lane Thomas then popped up the fourth pitch he saw.
The Nationals’ inability to generate productive at-bats meant rookie left-hander DJ Herz, whom the team recalled before Tuesday’s game, had to be nearly flawless. He was not.
Herz put himself in favorable counts much of the night and made timely pitches to get out of jams — most notably when he struck out Jackson Merrill, the Padres’ impressive rookie, with the bases loaded to end the fourth inning — but a few mistakes bit him.
In the fifth, with the game still scoreless, Herz was ahead 1-2 when he left a slider over the plate to Luis Arraez. He sent it out to right, the ball bouncing off the top of the wall and into the stands. Arraez’s hit had an expected batting average of .280 and would have been a home run in only 16 parks.
Herz stood and stared at the wall in disbelief as Arraez rounded the bases. The left-hander had barely collected himself before he hung a change-up to Jurickson Profar, the next batter. Profar left little doubt, blasting it out to left, into the visiting bullpen. Herz had the same reaction as the first, this time bending over in frustration.
“Arraez hit a really good pitch,” said Herz, who added that the pitch was too high. “And then Profar, he took advantage of me getting ahead early and he swung his guts out. … It happens.”
Herz was pleased with his performance outside of the two homers. He said the all-star break was a good time for him to reset and he believes he can carry that performance into the rest of the season.
But just like that, a promising start was dented. He left after five innings, his ERA lowered to 4.95. San Diego added runs in the sixth on an RBI single from Merrill and in the eighth on a run-scoring fielder’s choice.
Yepez chased Vásquez from the game with a double in the seventh — he saw just three pitches. But in the ensuing at-bats, James Wood grounded into a fielder’s choice on three pitches and Keibert Ruiz hit into an inning-ending double play on the second pitch he saw.
“We’ve been swinging the bats really well,” Martinez said. “Let’s forget about today and come back tomorrow and be ready to go.”