Jake Irvin had gutted his way through five innings of two-run ball. Keibert Ruiz had blasted his second homer in as many games to get his season off to a rousing start. Game 2 of 162 was knotted up, and now the Nationals had to place their faith in a relief corps that entered the season as a major question mark and only reinforced those concerns on Opening Day.
As he did Thursday, Davey Martinez entrusted key moments in the game to Colin Poche and Lucas Sims, two experienced big leaguers who nonetheless were still available in February at bargain prices. And as was the case in the opener, the result was tough to watch for the locals.
Poche and Sims combined to give up five runs while recording only one out during a torturous top of the sixth that turned another tight ballgame against the Phillies into another lopsided loss, this one by the count of 11-6.
It made for an agonizing afternoon for many in the bipartisan crowd of 38,446 (the largest second-home-game crowd in club history). Not just because it ruined this game. But because it felt way too much like Thursday’s game, a 7-3 loss in 10 innings.
“You can’t walk eight, nine guys in a game and expect to win,” Martinez said. “We’ve got to throw strikes, pound the zone like we normally do. You walk guys, give free passes with a team like that? You’re going to get beat. They’re going to score a lot of runs.”
The Nationals had to remake their bullpen this winter after trading away Hunter Harvey, Dylan Floro and Robert Garcia and letting Jacob Barnes walk as a free agent. They opted to essentially replace those four with Jorge Lopez, Sims, Poche and the returning Jose A. Ferrer, also counting on Derek Law to duplicate his 2024 performance while re-signing Kyle Finnegan after initially non-tendering the All-Star closer.
It’s unfair to make sweeping declarations after two games, but the early returns are about as bad as anyone could’ve feared.
Close your eyes if you can’t handle this, but Nats relievers have already given up 16 runs (15 earned) in eight innings, issuing 12 walks and serving up five homers.
“Two games, it’s an unfortunate start to the season,” said Poche, who was charged with both losses. “You don’t want to be basically the reason you dropped the first two games of the year. But it’s a long year, and we’re going to need all of these guys in the bullpen if we want to end up where we want to be.”
They haven’t played flawless baseball elsewhere, and outside of Ruiz and Amed Rosario they aren’t getting a whole lot of offense. But the primary reason they’re 0-2 against a division rival is the bullpen.
This game bore some similarities to Thursday’s opener early on, even if Irvin wasn’t nearly as dominant as MacKenzie Gore.
Irvin entered his season debut with some questions surrounding him, the product of a diminished fastball in his final spring training start. The right-hander put those doubts to rest, though, when he showed up with several 95-mph heaters in the top of the first.
Irvin’s primary issue today was less about velocity and more about traffic on the bases. He didn’t have a single 1-2-3 inning, putting added stress on the majority of his 83 pitches.
“For me, it’s a small mechanical issue,” he said. “I’m working diligently to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
He did manage to be effective, though, with some help from his defense. Dylan Crews made a perfect throw from the warning track in right field to nail Kyle Schwarber trying to stretch a game-opening single into a double. And CJ Abrams made a leaping catch of Brandon Marsh’s liner to short with two outs and a man in scoring position in the second.
Irvin appeared to hit a wall in the fourth, a 31-pitch frame during which the radar gun started reading 91 or 92 instead of 94 or 95. He threw what looked like a good curveball down and in to Bryson Stott but watched in horror as it sailed down the right field line and just past the foul pole for a two-run homer. But he bounced back with a four-pitch top of the fifth, allowing his day to end on an uplifting note.
“At the end of the day, long fourth or not, my job is to get us as deep in the game as possible,” Irvin said. “A quick fifth inning was a recipe for that. But at the end of the day, making guys earn it, no more free passes. I just wanted to go out there and compete.”
The Nationals led 2-0 prior to that point, thanks to their own two-run homer. Ruiz, who launched one into the right field bullpen Thursday while batting left-handed, flipped the script today. He blasted a second-inning changeup from Jesús Luzardo over the left field bullpen, this time batting right-handed.
Ruiz is only the second player in club history to homer in each of the season’s first two games, joining one of the players he was traded for four years ago and current Phillie Trea Turner, who did it in 2021.
The rest of the Nationals lineup had very little success against Luzardo, who struck out 11 over five innings of two-run ball. Crews struck out five times and is still seeking his first hit of the season. So are Josh Bell (0-for-8, one walk), Paul DeJong (0-for-6, walk, five strikeouts) and Jacob Young (0-for-5, two walks)
“We didn’t play for four days (between the spring training finale and Opening Day). I kind of figured the timing was going to be a little off,” Martinez said. “The timing’s getting a little better. We started swinging a little bit better. I really feel like we’re going to hit. We’re going to score runs.”
Rosario, getting the start at second base over Luis Garcīa Jr., managed to homer off reliever José Ruiz in the sixth. Nathaniel Lowe added a two-run shot, his first for the club, off Carlos Hernández in the eighth.
This game, though, really was decided in the top half of the sixth, seventh and eighth innings, with a parade of struggling relievers on the mound for the home team.
Poche, who was charged with Thursday’s loss, was the first man summoned. The lefty faced four batters, walking two and allowing a single to another, before he was pulled, in line for his second loss in as many games. In came Sims, who gave up a homer to Bryce Harper on Thursday. He faced three batters today and retired none of them, issuing a leadoff bases-loaded walk, then a run-scoring wild pitch, then a three-run homer to Schwarber to cap a disastrous inning.
“Probably trying to be a little too cute out there,” said Sims, who threw five different types of pitches on a day when he only threw 12 total pitches. “And coming into that kind of situation, that’s inexcusable, honestly.”
Orlando Ribalta fared no better in the seventh. He issued back-to-back walks, then surrendered a three-run homer to Brandon Marsh. And because rookie Brad Lord had previously warmed up twice without being summoned, and because Martinez didn’t want to use top late-inning arms Finnegan, Ferrer and Lopez (who was sick and needed an IV before the game), Ribalta was asked to throw a whopping 49 pitches over parts of three innings to help the Nationals get through this unsightly game.
“Obviously, it hasn’t gone right,” Sims said. “But with the group of guys we’ve got, it’s a two-game hiccup. We’ve got 160 left. Nobody’s hitting a panic button. It’s two bad games. We’ve got another one tomorrow, and we’ll bounce back and be ready to go.”
