The demons of the Washington Nationals season resurfaced Friday in the Big Apple, as the New York Mets once again flustered Nationals’ closer Sean Doolittle. In what was setup to be a pivotal victory quickly turned into a momentum-halting defeat.
Juan Soto hit a two-run homer, Anthony Rendon drove in three runs while matching his career-high of 25 home runs with a solo blast in the seventh, and Stephen Strasburg became the Nationals franchise all-time leader in strikeouts. All the while getting to Mets starter Marcus Stroman for four runs. Yet, that was not enough for the Nationals Friday night against the Mets.
Not even taking a 6-3 lead into the ninth was enough. What’s become the underlining story for the Nationals this season, the bullpen found a way to cough up what should have a crucial road win. Instead, it was another blown game while creating another negative story line to haunt this season.
Doolittle allowed hits to the first four batters he faced in the ninth. That included a game-tying three-run home run by Todd Frazier which ignited the anxious Citi Field crowd. Trying to salvage the damage and get out of the frame tied, Doolittle was unable to.
Up to two outs, Amed Rosario singled to left center moving Juan Lagares to second. The next batter, Michael Confronto sent Doolittle’s fastball to left field over the head of Adam Eaton, scoring Lagares for the walk-off win.
Doolittle faced eight batters, allowed six hits, four runs for a crushing loss. He was unable to elevate his fastball missing in the strike zone. His velocity was down as it’s been much of the season. It’s been effective all season except against the Mets.
“I wasn’t really happy with the way the ball was coming out of my hand,” Doolittle told reporters following the loss. “I looked up at the scoreboard a few times, and saw some 91 and 92s, and I might have been over-throwing, over-compensating, trying to throw a little bit too hard and do too much, cause they were obviously — they were seeing it really well.”
Sean Doolittle has three of his five blown saves this season come at the hands of the Mets.
He has a 10.13 ERA against the Mets this season, manifested by a 21.60 ERA at Citi Field.
The ramifications are clear. The Mets continue their flaming streak, closing in on the Nationals at 1.5 games back in the NL Wild Card race. Washington falls back to 6.5 games back of the Atlanta Braves for first place in the NL East.
With two more games slated this weekend, the Nationals are in danger of their lead being evaporated following a wasted outing by Strasburg and no Max Scherzer return in sight.
Washington’s bullpen has been a nightmare all season, bolstering the worst ERA in the majors. But after trades that landed Hunter Strickland and Daniel Hudson along with the pickup of Fernando Rodney, they’ve been inching to normalcy. Now, they have to figure out Doolittle’s Mets problem and how to prevent his woes against their NL East rival from lingering into the remainder of the season.
