CJ Abrams dazzled on both sides of the ball while Patrick Corbin turned in his third straight strong start, but the Nationals couldn't seal the deal in the 10th.
SAN DIEGO, CA - In a late night affair, the Washington Nationals dropped a 10-inning contest to the San Diego Padres, 6-7, in walkoff fashion. The Padres, who have flirted with the .500 line for weeks, climb to 42-41 and hold sole possession of the third National League wild card spot. The Nationals fall to 38-40, tied with the Diamondbacks and Mets for 1.5 games back of the wild card.
LHP Patrick Corbin got the ball for the 16th time this season. The sixth-year National got roughed up in the second inning, allowing three runs, but returned to shut out the Padres over the next five innings, locking in his fourth quality start of the year and third straight strong outing. Corbin’s final line reads 7 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 5 K.
Davey Martinez’s bullpen needed that length from Corbin following the high leverage arms’ usage over the past few days. Martinez turned to Derek Law for five outs across the eighth and ninth innings, then used the pen’s sole lefty in Robert Garcia to retire Jake Cronenworth on strikes and send the game to extra innings.
Hunter Harvey’s first save opportunity of the year was not as picture perfect as he had likely hoped. The 29-year-old setup arm took over with a three-run lead in the 10th and quickly yielded a double off the top of the wall to Donovan Solano that held lead runner Jake Cronenworth up at third. Jackson Merrill promptly singled both runners in, and following a walk to Ha-seong Kim, sacrifice from Tyler Wade, David Peralta popout, and Luis Arráez intentional walk, Jurickson Profar battled his way to a seven-pitch, game-winning, two-run ground rule double to right, despite Harvey’s best efforts in throwing a splitter painted right on the outside edge of the strike zone. Harvey is saddled with his third loss, first blown save, and sixth meltdown in what has otherwise been an effective season for the right-hander.
Still, the Nationals’ bats showed up even when the ultimate outcome was not ideal. CJ Abrams (3-5, 2B, 2 SB, 2 R) was electric both at the plate and in the field. First baseman Joey Meneses was instrumental in the Nats returning from a 3-0 deficit with a line drive RBI single to tie the game at 3 in the 7th. Meneses finished with 3 RBI for the game.
On the heels of his alma mater winning their first Men’s College World Series title in program history, Nick Senzel became the man of the hour in the 10th when he took Enyel De Los Santos deep on the tenth pitch of a gutsy two-out plate appearance to extend a Nationals lead to 6-3. He was set up for that by catcher Keibert Ruiz, who entered scoring position with a two-out RBI double down the right field line, his second of game, immediately beforehand. Senzel also made a fantastic play in the bottom of the inning, running down the Peralta pop fly in foul territory before crashing into the protective netting.
The Nationals continue this three-game series against the Padres later today, looking to tie it at 1 game each and return to .500 with a series win on Wednesday. LHP MacKenzie Gore gets the ball against his former team tomorrow against rookie RHP Adam Mazur (Padres No. 5 per MLB Pipeline). Gore has broken out in his second full MLB season, pitching to a 3.49 ERA and 2.83 FIP in 80 innings across 15 starts with 98 strikeouts. Mazur will be making his fifth career start; he has a 7.27 ERA in 17.1 innings, largely fueled by the 16 walks he’s issued. For those of you still awake (or for those of you reading this as you wake up), we’ll see you later today for more Nationals baseball.
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