With the game on the line and the Washington Nationals down to their final out, Juan Soto was presented with the perfect chance to be the hero. Unfortunately, he did not deliver in the clutch and the Nationals lost to the Arizona Diamondbacks 4-3 Thursday afternoon.
The Nationals trailed in the bottom of the ninth with two outs. Alcides Escobar and Victor Robles kept the line going with a pair of two-out singles. Caesar Hernandez loaded the bases after being it by pitch. That flipped the lineup to Soto with the game on the line.
Soto saw three pitches before he chased a cutter high in the zone, popping it up to third for the final out of the game.
After the game, Soto put the blame on himself for not delivering.
“It was a bad pitch,” Soto said, per Matt Weyrich of NBC Sports Washington. “I swung at a ball. [There’s] nothing I can do with a bad pitch. I gotta look for pitches in the strike zone to make good contact.”
The loss wasted a strong performance by the Nationals bullpen. Washington’s relievers pitched 4 2/3 scoreless innings to keep the Nationals in striking business. The loss drops the Nationals to 6-9 on the year.
Juan Soto hasn’t been up to his standards to start this season. Through 15 games, he is batting .260/.448/.480 with three solo home runs and three RBIs.
Soto is batting second in the lineup and the trio of Soto, Nelson Cruz and Josh Bell hasn’t had the impact many expected before the season.
Still there is no panic from the 23-year old. While he did chase out the zone in Thursday’s situation, he still has 16 walks to eight strikeouts.
“I just go out there,” Soto said. “If I miss, I miss. I don’t got to be scared to miss. I just go out there and try to do my job. If it goes in my way, that’s great. If not, I’m gonna get another chance [another day].”
