Pitching again puts Nats in too deep of a hole in loss to Marlins
WASHINGTON - It did not take long - two innings, maybe less - for Austin Voth to go from trending up to showing why the Washington Nationals may seek rotation depth ahead of the Aug. 31 trade deadline. The short-term damage was an 11-8 loss to the Miami Marlins on Monday night. Should Voth keep taking his turn every five days, the long-term impact could spread to the rest of the pitching staff.
Voth allowed six runs in all, five coming in a crooked fourth that put the Nationals in a 7-0 hole. He lasted 3 2/3 innings. His ERA is 6.65 through five appearances. Juan Soto cracked four hits in five at-bats, and Adam Eaton lined a three-run homer in eighth, but Voth left a steep climb that the bullpen kept lengthening. The Nationals dropped three of five in this series to a Marlins club that entered on a five-game losing streak. They are now 11-15 and, with an expanded postseason field, still in whiffing distance of a playoff spot.
At about 2:30 p.m., hours before Voth was rocked, Manager Dave Martinez looked like this on a video call with reporters: hat covering his face, shoulders slack against his chair. He was mimicking his reaction to the club's latest injury, stretching a list that already included Stephen Strasburg, Starlin Castro, Sean Doolittle, Sam Freeman and Roenis Elías.
And now rookie pitcher Seth Romero is out with a fractured right hand, with Martinez saying he used it to break a fall after slipping on the stairs Saturday night. The Nationals put Romero on the 10-day IL and promoted Ben Braymer, another lefty starter, in his place. Whenever Braymer pitches, he'll become the sixth player to debut for Washington this summer.
"I'm looking for the end," Martinez said Monday, moving his hat to reveal tired and smiling eyes. "When they tell me everybody is healthy, everybody is good, let's go, you know? I guess it's part of the game."
Minutes earlier, Martinez deflected a question on his untouched option for 2021, saying he's too worried about injuries, surgeries, safety during the novel coronavirus pandemic and the Nationals' next game to even think about his contract. That was likely a small fib. It would be human for him to consider what's beyond this year. But calling him occupied would be an understatement.
He's integrated protocols, prospects and is trying to steer a team past its uneven start. Then it began this week with another step back.
After his last start, a clunker in Atlanta, Voth tried to fix his mechanics in five days. That would prove to be too tall a task. The 28-year-old was sharp in the first, retiring the Marlins in order. He was sharp again in the second, using an around-the-horn double play to face the minimum. But he stumbled in the third before he slipped an inning later.
The unraveling was swift and painful. Voth seemed fine, even in control, with one on and one down. Then the rally heated when he hit Jorge Alfaro with a first-pitch fastball. Then it took off with Jonathan Villar's single, Miguel Rojas's walk and a single from Matt Joyce that scored two and ended Voth's night. He left runners on the corners for reliever Javy Guerra, and they scored once Jesús Aguilar punched a double off the wall in center.
That capped Voth's line at six hits, six earned runs, three walks and three strikeouts. He threw 73 pitches. Guerra allowed another run before Dakota Bacus yielded four across the seventh and eighth. That helped hollow out a steady push, built on a three-run fifth, Soto's bat and Eaton's blast in the eighth that accounted for the final margin.
Voth's often hit a wall in the fourth, when he's facing a lineup for the second time. In his first turn through the Marlins on Monday, he permitted two base-runners on a pair of singles. But in the next trip through, eight batters reached and the scoreboard tilted. Voth only twice made it to the fifth this year.
Last July, the Nationals watched Joe Ross and Erick Fedde get pummeled in the week before the deadline. They sought a depth starter. They agreed to acquire one before the deal fell through. Then, both Fedde and Ross were starting because Max Scherzer was in the midst of missing six weeks with back issues. Now, without Ross and Strasburg out until 2021, Fedde and Voth are rounding a rotation that's yet to meet expectations.
That's most apparent with Voth, who'd won the fifth starter spot coming out of summer training. In the weeks since, the Nationals are 1-4 when he takes the mound. In the one win, they scored eight runs and needed seven relievers. In a news conference Sunday, General Manager Mike Rizzo repeatedly vowed to be aggressive at the deadline, saying he and ownership remain committed to winning back-to-back titles.
As is, the rotation is without Strasburg and depending on Voth and Fedde to make two of every five starts. That could run counter to the team's ultimate goal.
