The score says it all, as the Nationals lost by an embarrassing score of 16-1 Saturday night following their 6-3 loss earlier that day.
Collectively, two pitchers and outfielder Lane Thomas allowed the damage on the mound. Former Pirate, Chad Kuhl, took most of the damage, as the righty lasted just 3 2/3 innings allowing eight runs on seven hits and four walks in his fifth start of the season, ballooning his season ERA up to 9.41 on the season.
Following Jordan Weems‘ sigh-of-relief scoreless 1 1/3 innings in his second outing of the day — he was the club’s 27th man for the doubleheader, Hobie Harris yielded five runs across two innings, including a Jack Suwinski grand slam that made it 12-0 Pirates in the sixth.
Vince Velasquez, the former NL East rival, held the Nationals to just five hits and no runs across six innings.
The outfielder in Thomas pitched the ninth following a sigh-of-relief scoreless eighth from Hunter Harvey, and the scoring didn’t stop there. Thomas reached a velocity of 80+ mph on the mound before he served up an RBI double and Miguel Andujar swatted a two-run homer off of him.
The Nats grabbed a run in the ninth inning on a Dominic Smith solo homer, his first of the year and only his second extra-base hit of this season. Smith kept this game from being a shutout.
Maggi gets first hit
33-year-old catcher Drew Maggi picked up his first big-league hit Saturday. He was finally called up to the majors following over 1,000 games caught in the minors. He picked up an RBI double off of Thomas in the ninth as well.
The Nats hope to rebound tomorrow afternoon at 1:35 p.m. ET.
Sunday @ 1:35 p.m. ET: Josiah Gray vs Johan Oviedo
