Game #21 Voth takes the mound in a pivotal game; Bullpen has been worked hard!

Posted on August 18, 2020 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Photo by Sol Tucker for TalkNats

The Nats suffered arguably their toughest loss to swallow last night. They were cruising to victory when veteran reliever in the 9th inning blew a 3-run lead and the Nats lost the game to the rival Braves. Tonight, they are back at it in Atlanta with a chance to pull even in this 3-game series. The question with Austin Voth on the mound who has lacked endurance in games is who will pitch the innings after Voth departs? Voth has not pitch in any of his starts this year past the 5th inning, and that is a fact for his three starts this season. 

A look at bullpen usage and you really can’t go to Daniel Hudson again, can you? He has thrown 44-pitches the past two days. Tanner Rainey has thrown 47 high octane pitches the last two days. Dakota Bacus has thrown 55 pitches since Friday, and did not pitch in the game on Sunday. Will Harris did not pitch on Sunday, however he did warm-up and he threw 25 pitches yesterday. There were five relievers who never entered the game yesterday giving manager Dave Martinez relievers like Kyle Finnegan, Javy Guerra, Seth Romero, Wander Suero (who warmed), and Ryne Harper possibly for tonight.

Josh Tomlin will be an opener for the Braves tonight. He has made 8 relief appearances this season. The right-hander has faced a few of the Nats and it sounds like he won’t be facing Howie Kendrick who will sit again with hamstring issues. Also on the bench tonight is Carter Kieboom as Asdrubal Cabrera will shift to 3rd base tonight with Kurt Suzuki at the DH.

The Nats are 8-12 and using that 2.7 multiplier is the equivalent of 32.4 losses in a full season. So much for that winning streak that was supposed to start after the team was 7-11 and looking very much like their 19-31 selves from the 2019 season.

The injuries have been devastating, and the team is showing its age in their durability. Last year, Hudson never gave up 4-runs in a game and after the first week of 2019 baseball, Hudson never gave up more than 3-runs for the remainder of the season. In a Nats uniform last year, Huddy only had one blowup game when he gave up 2-runs on August 30th. He was a bullpen ace in 2019. Already in the first 20 games of 2020, Hudson has given up 3-runs in an appearance and 4-runs last night. With Sean Doolittle down and Rainey looking exhausted, they have to determine if Huddy has the stamina to pitch effectively in back-to-back games or was last night a fluke? He is 33 ½ years old with an extensive injury history.

Washington Nationals at Atlanta Braves
Stadium:   Truist Bank, Atlanta, Georgia
1st Pitch:  7:10 pm EDT
TV: MASN2, FOX Sports Southeast, MLB.TV
Nats Radio: 106.7 FM The Fan; SiriusXM® ( Streaming Internet 869)

Line-up subject to change (without notice):

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