The Washington Nationals continue to be letdown by their bullpen, holding the team back from taking the next positive step.
The Washington Nationals bullpen once again proved why it is the weakest link for the up-and-coming team, wasting away multiple leads in back-to-back blown saves against the Philadelphia Phillies.
Despite a young core, the top scoring offense in Major League Baseball and a scrappy attitude, the Nationals’ bullpen continued its trend of losing winnable games and holding the team back from positive momentum.
Across the final three games against the Phillies, the Nationals bullpen gave up 15 combined runs in the ninth inning.
Brad Lord was the main villain Tuesday night in Navy Yard, entering with a two-run lead in the top of the ninth before getting two outs then allowing the Phillies to rattle off three singles and two home runs to make it an 11-6 Philadelphia advantage.
Paxton Schultz entered for Lord to get the final out, but not before the Phillies scored three more to take a 14-8 lead into the bottom of the ninth.
"You're frustrated in the moment, but knowing what our offense is capable of, [we] still felt we were in it in the bottom of the eighth,” Manager Blake Butera said. “There, first two guys get on, Vivas hits a three run shot to put us ahead by two.
“We're feeling great, of course, and then we have Brad Lord coming out for the ninth, who's been unbelievable all year long and felt as good as we could have. And [it] just didn't seem like he had finish to that slider today, and just wasn't able to get off barrels. He's been so good for us all year long, and this was very uncharacteristic. He gets the first two guys out, gives up the base hit to [Trae] Turner, and then things just went absolutely sideways there. About as frustrating of a loss as we've seen as I've ever been a part of, and in front of a great crowd against this team that we know is a huge series.”
Butera said he was curious how the team would respond after Tuesday's loss, but another blown save Wednesday and five runs given up in the ninth Thursday really highlighted the issue at hand.
The Washington Nationals lead Major League Baseball with 47 save opportunities, but have converted just 24 of those chances. The Tampa Bay Rays have the second-most save opportunities, 43, but have 31 conversions.
Moves were made to the bullpen immediately after the loss to Philadelphia, with Schultz being optioned to Triple-A Rochester Tuesday night.
The Nationals also announced Wednesday that they claimed right-handed pitcher Justin Lawrence off outright waivers from the Minnesota Twins and designated righty Jhancarlos Lara for assignment.
Lawrence started the season with the Pittsburgh Pirates, but was DFA’d on May 29 after some struggles to make room for Jared Jones and ended up with the Twins. His time in Minnesota was marred by even worse struggles, allowing 12 earned runs across his last four appearance.
Washington will hope that Lawrence can find positive form, but the team ultimately just needs anything positive to come from the bullpen to help this team to take another step forward.
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