From yesterday’s great come from behind 14-inning win, to a 7th inning blown save by Shawn Kelley who came in to start the 7th inning guarding a 2-to-1 lead. The game stayed tied until the 9th inning and manager Dave Martinez called in Tanner Roark for the 9th inning to help out the depleted bullpen. He gave up a double quickly that should have been a single and pinch-hitter Charlie Culberson hit a no-doubter home run left over the middle of the plate inside for the walk-off loss. If you missed the game, Nats starter Jeremy Hellickson tweaked his hamstring on an errant throw to 1st base as Hellickson was covering on a ground ball.
After Hellickson tried to stretch out the hamstring, he was pulled out of the game and lucky for the Nationals they had called up Double-A starter Jefry Rodriguez who was called-up to replace Tim Collins who went on paternity leave for the birth of his child. Rodriguez pitched like a champ and went 4 2/3 innings of shutout baseball to get the ball to Sammy Solis who threw a shutdown 6th inning.
For the 7th inning, Davey Martinez went to Shawn Kelley instead of Brandon Kintzler or Wander Suero who both started warming up as soon as Kelley entered the game. It took no time for Kelley to serve up the meatball to Dansby Swanson for the tying run. Why Kelley we ask?
For the 8th inning, Brandon Kintzler pitched a shutdown inning. In the top of the 9th inning, Juan Soto worked a walk and Anthony Rendon got a bloop single. With no outs, Mark Reynolds stepped in and smashed a liner to deep centerfield and for some reason Juan Soto did not go back to second base to tag-up. He should have been standing on 3rd base. In succession, Brian Goodwin and Michael Taylor struck out to end the threat.
All of the Nats runs came in the 3rd inning on a Trea Turner two-run home run, but the Nationals had their chances in this game.
Also, Dave Martinez said there was nothing wrong with Wander Suero and he went to Tanner Roark just for the 9th inning and Suero put pitch multiple innings if needed. Martinez also said that Hellickson would get an MRI back in Washington on the hamstring and he would not speculate on the severity.
