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PHILADELPHIA – It does not happen every night, but sometimes a major league official faces a crucial pitching decision in the final round of a tight game, likely to have a affect the outcome of the match.
Sometimes the pitchers involved do the work and reward the manager for his decision-making process. Sometimes they fail and the manager has to explain why he did what he did.
Tonight, following a 4-2 loss to the Phillies, Davey Martinez had to explain why he had done what he had done in the bottom of the sixth round. And the citizens The coach was ready to give an answer that, although it may not be satisfactory for everyone, highlighted the details with which he and his team had prepared a pre-game plan for a situation like this. -this.
"We liked this meeting," he said.
Martinez actually faced two decisions, with his team leading one race at a time. First of all, he had to decide if he had to let the starter Jeremy Hellicksonenjoying a dominant night on the mound, face Bryce Harper for the third time in the game. Then, after firing Hellickson in favor of Dan Jenningshe had to decide whether to let his left-handed reliever face rapper Rhys Hoskins instead of calling a right-handed man from his pen.
Martinez stuck with Jennings. It did not work, not even closed. Hoskins crashed a 3-run homer against a Southpaw slider, giving the Phillies an advantage and demoralizing a Nationals canoe that was already on a brutal 10-game road trip in the midst of the turmoil that followed a important change of staff.
Paul Menhart's first game as coach of the major league pitchers went off without a hitch. But the ball crashed when Hoskins' ball landed in the stands of the left field.
"Sometimes you just pull your hat" catches Kurt Suzuki I said. "These are the big leagues. You have good hitters there. You have just given your hat.
Even if they had escaped the sixth inning, the Nationals still faced a difficult challenge: to win with a missing formation Juan Soto, Anthony Rendon and Trea Turner, not to mention an enclosure that has been trying to gather his skills for weeks. But the way this game has been decided will leave a distinctly acidic taste in everyone's mouth.
After a shaky first run in which the contact was strong, dominated by Jean Segura's solo, Hellickson quickly achieved his most dominant performance of the young season. Taking advantage of Hellickson's plate, Bill Miller's referee, scored nine catches on a 13-hit strike, a remarkable run for the right-handed, who managed to tie the height of his career.
"I thought everything was fine tonight," Hellickson said. "I'm just going from the front. When I went ahead, I made good shots. And I thought the speed was pretty good. "
And thanks to Suzuki's solo circuit leading the sixth inning, Hellickson managed to take the mound with a 2-1 lead at the start of the run. The problem: he was now going to face Phillies training for the third time tonight. It had been a dangerous area for a while, and the question was whether Martinez would allow his No. 5 starter to walk in those waters or shut down before something bad happened.
Martinez chose to unplug, inviting Jennings to face Harper with one on and one on. Hellickson, with a pitch number of 79, was not tired. But Harper, despite his recent 3-out-of-33 drop, hit an impressive home last month and had a brace in his previous game tonight.
"It allowed us to go through all five races and started well," Martinez said. "I thought that at that time we had guys who could hold them right away."
Hellickson, who bit his tongue several times over the past season and was questioned about the possibility of getting shot at the height, countered with his first public complaint about his usual use.
"There will be games where it will probably be the right decision," said the pitcher. "But as I was going today, I think that was my sleeve. I thought I should have a chance to get out of there. I may have dropped a hard-hit ball since the first run. I really thought I should stay there. "
Hellickson of course mentioned that this ball had been Harper's double win twice before. So Martinez summoned Jennings for the left-left match. It made sense, but Jennings did not do his part, falling behind 3-0 and eventually leading Harper to five fields.
"I take my hat off," Jennings said of Harper. "He was patient and once I left 2-0, I thought I was doing a tight pitch. But after that, you have to find a way to go up in the count, which I did not do. This is the type I have to find on the spot. "
With two on and one on, Hoskins, came to the plate. The right-handed hitter has reverse divisions, but not Jennings. The right-wingers beat .320 with .927 OPS in 146 plate matches against him last season in Milwaukee. This therefore raised more eyebrows when Martinez left him to face the slugger instead of bringing in a right handed man (none of them was warming up at that time).
Martinez, however, had a screening report that offered a clear plan of attack for this specific situation. Hoskins was 0-to-17 with nine strikeouts in his career against left-handed sliders.
"And Jennings has a very good slider," said the manager. "It's the game."
The thought may have made sense, but the execution did not follow. With count 1-1, Jennings shot a slider. But instead of throwing it into the hands of Hoskins as the surveillance report suggested, he left it over the plate and knees. Hoskins lined her Deep to the left, the crowd of 33,125 roared as he surrounded the bases during his three-point homerun.
"I have to either be inside or outside. I can not be on the plate, "said Jennings. "It was down, but it was not in, it was not in. It was just a little on the plate. "
The Phillies now had a 4-2 lead, the Nationals' fortunate squad was left out to try to stage a late rally and their coach left to explain a decision that was not going to be as effective as expected. Even after defining what they thought was a good solid plan even before taking the field.
"We talked about it," Martinez said. "And I knew that I was going into the game … I even wrote it on paper. And we have already done it with (Matt) Grace, and Grace has succeeded. With Jennings as he did, I thought it would be a great meeting. "
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