But they had just one hit and no runs through eight innings, with the first seven of those coming against Padres ace Dylan Cease. And though they surged late, ignited by Nasim Nuñez’s first major league hit, to score five runs in the final inning against the Padres’ low-leverage relievers, the larger picture was another game of lifeless offense.
Once again, they were diced up with breaking balls. For the fourth time this season, they were on the wrong side of a sweep.
Those struggles, in part, could be explained by the mastery of Cease, who looked every bit the pitcher who finished second in American League Cy Young Award voting for the White Sox in 2022. The right-hander threw seven dominant frames, striking out nine. The Nationals, as teams know by now, handle velocity just fine. Fastballs, sinkers and cutters haven’t been a problem. Breaking balls are the problem; the Nationals hit just .210 against them.
Cease allowed just one hit, a soft line drive single by Nick Senzel in the fifth inning. That came on a 98-mph heater.
“Cease was really, really good. Our guys couldn’t pick up the slider,” Manager Dave Martinez said. “It was sharp, really sharp today. We’ve seen him before: When he’s on, he’s on.”
The Nationals (38-42) still have one of the lowest barrel rates in MLB. Their hitters can’t seem to get hot at the same time. In June, CJ Abrams, Lane Thomas and Jesse Winker have a collective OPS of .961. The rest of Washington’s everyday players who have played at least 15 games this month have a combined OPS of .568.
Repeatedly, Nationals hitters looked up at the scoreboard, trying to figure out what went wrong against the Padres (44-41). They didn’t find a solution until the ninth.
“All of us are just trying to prove our worth, if that makes sense, and take those last at-bats serious,” Thomas said. “We at least got within striking distance; a couple more hits and we’re right back in it.”
Martinez tried a couple of new wrinkles to get the Nationals going. He put Harold Ramírez in the starting lineup for the first time since he was recalled from Class AAA Rochester at the start of the series, hitting in place of Eddie Rosario, who owns a .447 OPS in June. He went 1 for 4. He also used catcher Drew Millas, who has posted an OPS more than 100 points higher than regular starter Keibert Ruiz this month. He went 0 for 3.
In the ninth, he swapped out Abrams for Nuñez. Martinez didn’t tell the rookie, a Rule 5 pick, that he was hitting until Abrams was supposed to be on deck. In a hurry, he asked for Abrams’s batting gloves, which he credited for the hit. He then slapped a pitch the other way as players in the dugout jumped up and down and called for the ball.
“It was like, man, finally, found a hole it went through,” Nuñez said. “[First base coach Gerardo Parra] asked me if I was happy. I was like, ‘Yeah, but it’s kind of tough when we’re getting blown out like that.’ [The gloves] gave me some superpowers. That man can hit. So he passed along whatever he had left in the tank.”
Doubles from Thomas and Luis García Jr. each scored two runs and Ramírez added the final RBI single.
Five runs is often enough, but the Nationals’ pitching also faltered. Rookie left-hander DJ Herz failed to get through four innings for his second straight start. The big blow was a thunderous two-run homer from Kyle Higashioka in the second. Jurickson Profar also delivered an RBI single, and a wild pitch also brought in a run. In all, Herz was charged with four runs on six hits in 3⅓ innings, raising his ERA to 5.48.
The lefty has shown flashes of excellence since arriving in the majors June 4, including a 13-strikeout game against the Miami Marlins on June 15.
Tanner Rainey allowed a two-out grand slam to Higashioka in the eighth, a blast that seemed meaningless at the time but ultimately proved decisive after the visitors’ ninth-inning rally.
Note: Martinez said righty Josiah Gray (flexor strain) will make one or two more rehab starts with Class AAA Rochester. He has been out since early April.
