MIAMI — Aaron Sanchez’s final pitching line against the Miami Marlins — 3⅔ innings, eight hits, four earned runs, three walks — gave a sound description of the right-hander’s outing Monday night for the Washington Nationals. So, too, did a pair of second-inning sinkers at LoanDepot Park.
Before missing against García, Sanchez had set down the first four batters he faced. After the misplaced pitch, the Marlins reached him for a walk, a double, a two-run single, a double and an RBI single. That accounted for the bulk of Miami’s scoring in an 8-2 win over the last-place Nationals (12-25). Washington dropped to 0-4 against the Marlins (16-19).
“If I were to do it over again, I’d probably spin him [with curveballs] until he swings the bat,” Sanchez said of the pitch to García. “Obviously, you saw what I did in the second at-bat. … I threw him [seven] curveballs and one heater and he ended up striking out. If I can go back and take one back, that’s maybe one of them. … My game is better at the bottom of the zone, and I got to be better.”
Despite a nine-pitch, one-two-three first, Sanchez had recorded just 11 outs on 74 pitches when he was pulled in the fourth. Marlins starter Sandy Alcantara, meanwhile, flipped his start in the opposite direction. The Nationals blitzed Alcantara, scoring a run in the first on singles by César Hernández, Josh Bell and Yadiel Hernandez. But they also left the bases loaded and stranded two more in the next inning.
Alcantara dominated the rest of the way, retiring the final 20 batters he saw. When the second ended, his pitch count was at 43, a good sign for the Nationals and their chances of chasing the ace early. By the end of the fifth, though, it was 71, still three fewer than Sanchez threw in his entire outing. Sanchez’s ERA grew to 7.94 in five starts with the Nationals, who signed him to a minor league deal in March. Alcantara’s ERA dipped to 2.49 with seven innings on 100 pitches.
This was a tale of two sinkers, then of two arms.
“He was making his pitches in the right place,” Juan Soto said of Alcantara, who mixes a slider, a change-up, a four-seam fastball and a sinker. “But sometimes he was missing the strike zone and we kept swinging at it. We just got to stay more calm and try to make swings at the good pitches. I think he has pretty good stuff, but he was kind of a little off the strike zone today and we just helped him out.”
Why was Nelson Cruz scratched? He did not feel well, said Manager Dave Martinez, who moved Yadiel Hernandez to designated hitter and inserted Lane Thomas in left. Cruz, 41, was at the park for a bit Monday, wearing a mask in the clubhouse. But once he conferred with the medical staff, the Nationals decided Cruz shouldn’t be around his teammates. Beyond that, Martinez did not describe it as a potential coronavirus issue. Cruz’s status for Tuesday night’s game is unclear.
How did the Marlins score the rest of their runs? All in a seventh inning that brought more sloppy play from the Nationals. After Jacob Stallings and Jazz Chisholm Jr. singled off Austin Voth, Victor Arano entered, Jesús Aguilar singled off him, and a circus ensued.
First, Jorge Soler scorched a one-hopper right at shortstop Dee Strange-Gordon, who fell backward as it rolled to Thomas in left. From there, as two runs scored, Thomas threw wide of home plate and Ruiz had trouble locating the ball. Arano, having jogged in to back up Ruiz, finally picked it up as Soler dashed for second. Arano then threw wide of the bag and into center field, bringing in a third run and putting Soler on third base.
The Nationals were charged with two errors on the play — one for Thomas, the other for Arano. Strange-Gordon could have knocked the ball down, even though it was sizzling at 113.2 mph. If not for Victor Robles’s diving stop on Arano’s miscue, Soler would have scored, too. (He soon did anyway on a single by García.) And to add to Washington’s defensive woes, some generous scoring kept César Hernández from collecting an error on a grounder ripped straight at him in the third.
How did Soto fare against Alcantara? Pop fly to third, groundout to third, groundout to the pitcher and a flyout to center. After the third result, a dribbler straight back to Alcantara, Soto carried his bat halfway up the line and slammed it down in frustration. He entered the night with good numbers against the 26-year-old righty: 8 for 23 with two homers. But Alcantara pounded Soto outside, something Soto usually likes, to record all four of the outs. Soto has an on-base-plus-slugging percentage of .865 and continues to struggle with men on base.
“I’ve been seeing a lot of pitches in the strike zone, and I come and face a guy that didn’t throw me that many strikes,” Soto said. “I kept swinging at them. It wasn’t a good idea.”
What are the Nationals’ playoff odds according to FanGraphs? A dismal 0.1 percent despite the field expanding from 10 to 12 teams. Only the Baltimore Orioles are lower at 0 percent, though they have two more victories and a better winning percentage. The Cincinnati Reds, the laughingstock of April and May, are at 0.3 percent, perhaps a nod to the National League East being a tougher division than the NL Central.
