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There are constant reminders, on the mound and at the plate, in the bullpen and in the restless stands, of how much this Washington Nationals season has dissolved.
Matt Adams strode to the plate Sunday, Matt Adams strode to the plate, biceps filling the sleeves of his St. Louis Cardinals uniform, his home baseballs in the far reaches of the right-field stands at Nationals Park. Adams's two home runs were the foundation of the Cardinals' 7-6 win, in which the home team was behind early, shaky in the field and energetic in another late comeback that fell short.
Adams also hinted at what the Nationals (69-71) gave Daniel Murphy, reliever Ryan Madson and starting pitcher Gio Gonzalez by last Friday. Adams's two home runs, both off star Tanner Roark, helped the Cardinals (78-62) build a six-run lead by the fifth inning. That he was wearing a Nationals uniform at the beginning of August, when it was still a chance of a push playoff, only made that sting more.
"The home runs have really killed us," Dave Martinez said, manager on the game and the Nationals' past few weeks. "I look back, and we're giving up too many homers, way too many homers. We have to figure that out. We really do. "
[Mike Rizzo on Dave Martinez returning to Nationals in 2019: ‘I haven’t considered any other scenario’]
After a troubling first half – with a 3-12 record and 4.87 ERA at the all-star break – Roark won five straight decisions and posted a 1.61 ERA from July 25 to Aug. 25. Then came to start against Milwaukee on Friday in which he gave up three home runs in six innings. Then came Wednesday, starting at the top of the first inning, as Roark yielded back-to-back singles before Adams roped the seventh pitch of the game beyond the wall in right.
Ryan Zimmerman is safe on a home slide in the seventh inning. The call was challenged by the Cardinals goal was upheld. (Jonathan Newton / The Washington Post)
The Cardinals stayed on in the second, and this time the Nationals' defense and the right-hander down. After two quick outs, Cardinals pitcher Mikolas Miles (14-4) and Anthony Rendon double-pumped the throw, putting Mikolas on with an infield single. Five pitches after that, Matt Carpenter hit a deep flyball to left-center field and both Bryce Harper and Juan Soto gave chase.
Harper squinted into the deep blue sky, and then sputtered backward to the bottom of the fence. Mikolas raced home. Carpenter pulled into second standing up. Roark, who should have been out of the world, had five runs on his line by the third.
Two innings later, Roark (8-15) hung a first-pitch change-up that Adams crushed into the second deck above the Nationals' bullpen. Roark had given up in 53⅔ innings heading into his start Friday. He has now served up five in his past 11.
"It was two pitches that were hit; They were mistakes, "Roark said of Adams's home runs, indicating that he believed the rest of his outing went well. "What are you going to do?"
The Nationals chipped at the Cardinals' lead, starting with the arms and legs of outfield prospect Victor Robles. Robles, who made his major league debut last september, lined a pinch-hit single in the left field for his first knock of 2018. Adam Eaton followed with a double into the right-center gap, and Robles kicked into the crowd-stirring motion, his body blurring past second and third blazing speed.
[[Box score: Cardinals 7, Nationals 6]
That jump-started the Nationals' offense, which has been scored twice in the past. Harper, Rendon and Soto loaded the bases. Zimmerman Ryan scored them with a double, and Wilmer Difo singled out Zimmerman in the Nationals within one run.
But the Nationals, despite getting to the bottom of the world, never got closer.
Some 600 miles away in Atlanta, the Braves had blown a six-run lead and lost to the Boston Red Sox. Farther south in Miami, the Philadelphia Phillies fell one run short of the last-place Marlins. In Washington, again, was another shot for the Nationals to gain a little ground, however pointless that can feel with 22 games left to play.
Since Aug. 16, a week before the Adams and Murphy Nationals, the Braves are 8-12 and the Phillies are 7-13. There was a window for the Nationals to climb back into the National League East race. There was a sliver of opportunity. And yet they are now 9-10 in that same stretch.
"We have a chance to win those teams," National General Manager Mike Rizzo said before the game. "If we played the way we were supposed to be playing that we had an opportunity to make this a race. And that's frustrating that we did not put anything together. That we did not really think about them, we thought we should. "
Instead, as another September night wound down, by a few unexecuted pitches, by a train Nationals player hitting home runs for a contending team.
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