Photo by Lynn G. for TalkNats
This game never really seemed close as the Diamondbacks jumped on Nationals starter Erick Fedde early in this one as Fedde struggled with his command. To make matters worse, the Nationals offense did not get a hit until the 7th inning when Trea Turner had an infield hit against Zack Greinke who would have gone for the complete game if not for a one hour rain delay. Greinke certainly had his “A” game going in this one, and the Nationals big chance in the game was in that 7th inning when the Nats had two runners on-base with no outs, and then Anthony Rendon tapped a grounder into a doubleplay that he did not exactly hustle down the line. Rendon also botched a tailor-made doubleplay in the first inning which possibly led to another run scoring.
While it was not a highlight reel game for the Nationals, Trevor Rosenthal came out in control and looked dominant. If this is the Rosey we will see in the rest of the season then this could be quite the thing. As always, we will see as one or two promising appearances in “low lev” relief is not the same as an 8th inning appearance in a one-run game.
“If there was one thing positive, that was very encouraging,” manager Dave Martinez said about Rosenthal. “And he looked — even in his warmups — he looked very relaxed. Really nice, the ball was coming out really, really nice. Man, he was pumping strikes today and it was great to see.”
The Nationals only had three hits of which Turner had two of them in this 5-0 loss. All of those 5 runs were charged against Nats starter Erick Fedde who gave up the runs early as he was not sharp but at least lasted 6.0 innings in the game to not stress the bullpen except for Matt Grace who went two innings. Rosenthal’s impressive 1-2-3 ninth inning included two strikeouts and a deep flyout.
Besides a few nice defensive plays by Gerardo Parra and a catch at the wall by Adam Eaton and a diving catch by Juan Soto, the game was very unimpressive in terms of Nats production from the position players. The Nats had a total of four baserunners comprised of the three hits and an Eaton hit-by-pitch which was confirmed on a video replay challenge.
Onto tomorrow with Max Scherzer on the mound versus ex-Nats farmhand Robbie Ray.
