“I was confused on why he just kept on saying I swung,” Young said. “I was just trying to explain that the ball hit the bat.”
After a lengthy discussion with Young, Moore moved away — but walked right into Martinez, who argued until he got ejected. That sequence didn’t define the Nationals’ 3-2 loss to the Cleveland Guardians on Saturday afternoon at Progressive Field, but it did provide insight to a strange, sloppy game.
“It was a foul ball,” Martinez said. “Ball hit the knob of the bat and rolled basically to our dugout. For me, he missed a call. He said he didn’t hear it, he didn’t see it. That stuff can’t happen.”
Young exited the game in the sixth inning with a swollen right hand; he had a wrap on the hand after the game. Martinez said that Young’s injury was unrelated to the at-bat in question and that he has been playing through it for some time. He was scheduled to get an X-ray.
Ejection aside, many of Washington’s mistakes were self-inflicted, ultimately costing the Nationals (26-31) a chance to even the three-game series with the Guardians (39-19). And the miscues came from just about everyone.
“Just sloppy on our part,” Martinez said. “A blooper we should’ve caught, a couple infield hits, made a couple outs on the bases — just a lot of mistakes. … And we’ve been playing good. I’m not going to critique the way we’re playing. But today was just sloppy.”
Rookie left-hander Mitchell Parker was uncharacteristically wild in the first inning. After allowing a one-out single to José Ramírez, Parker issued back-to-back walks. He responded by striking out the next batter and was a pitch away from getting out of the inning unscathed when Kyle Manzardo hit a blooper into shallow left.
Left fielder Eddie Rosario, third baseman Nick Senzel and shortstop Ildemaro Vargas, who was in the lineup after CJ Abrams was scratched with shoulder soreness, ran toward the ball. Vargas had the best chance but pulled up as it fell in, allowing two Guardians to score. Martinez’s assumption was that Vargas heard someone call him off but said Vargas should have caught it anyway.
After the dramatic end to the top of the third inning, Parker threw a wild pitch with Ramírez on second base in the bottom half. The ball nearly trickled into the Nationals’ dugout, which gave Ramírez enough time to extend Cleveland’s lead to 3-0.
“That ball’s got to be blocked,” catcher Riley Adams said. “There’s no excuse for that. I got to keep that in front of me. I didn’t see it right away — I saw it going toward the dugout and tried to get there as quickly as I can.”
Parker walked a career-high four but settled in from there. He left two runners on in the sixth inning for Dylan Floro, who retired Austin Hedges on one pitch.
At the plate, the Nationals squandered several opportunities. In the second inning with Luis García Jr. on first base, Senzel roped a two-out double to left. Third base coach Ricky Gutierrez waved García home, then put up a late stop sign as he touched the base. García stopped his momentum a few steps past the base but was caught in a rundown and eventually tagged out to end the inning. Martinez said a struggling offense has convinced the Nationals to push the envelope, but it didn’t pay off there.
In García’s next at-bat in the fourth, he hit a flyball that right fielder Johnathan Rodriguez lost in the sun, putting two runners in scoring position. The Nationals got within 3-2 on a groundout by Joey Meneses and a bloop single by Jesse Winker — but Winker was picked off to end the threat.
Despite all that had gone wrong, the Nationals trailed by just one. But their mistakes were too much to overcome.
“You feel like we lost that game more than they won it,” Adams said.
Here’s what else to know about the Nationals’ loss:
Release waivers for Robles
The Nationals requested unconditional release waivers for outfielder Victor Robles, officially ending his tenure with the organization. The Nationals designated him for assignment Monday, giving MLB’s other 29 teams a chance to claim him on waivers; any team who grabbed him would have had to take on the rest of his contract.
Saturday’s move makes him a free agent. The 27-year-old ends his Nationals career with a .236 batting average, 31 home runs and 70 stolen bases in 530 games over parts of eight seasons.
