Washington Nationals news & notes: Nats fight from 5-0 deficit, beat Brewers, 6-5 in Milwaukee…

Notes and quotes on the Nationals’ comeback win over the Brewers in Milwaukee…

CJ AND LANE BIG MOMENTS IN WIN:

“Let’s [expletive deleted] GO!” Kyle Finnegan screamed after Lane Thomas leapt at the right field wall in American Family Field and brought down a potential game-tying (if a double) or game-winning (if it went out, though it didn’t look like it, short of a Canseco-ish play) fly ball by Milwaukee Brewers’ third baseman Joey Ortiz for the last out of Washington’s comeback win on Saturday afternoon. There was a runner on second. It was 6-5 Nationals. The visitors battled back after starter Mitchell Parker gave up five runs on three hits and two walks in just ²⁄₃ of an inning, leaving 8 ¹⁄₃ innings for the bullpen to cover.

Harold Ramírez (RBI single), Ildemaro Vargas (RBI double), and Riley Adams (RBI single), got the Nationals back in the game after Parker’s early exit, then Luis García, Jr.’s pinch hit home run made it a one-run game in the seventh, and CJ Abrams’ two-run home run in the ninth, (which scored García after he singled to start the inning) put the visitors up by a run, 6-5.

The home team didn’t fold. Jake Bauers walked with one out in the ninth, and one out later Ortiz hit a center-cut, 2-1 fastball to right field, 350 ft. but not far enough.

“It was a great play,” manager Davey Martinez told reporters after the second straight win in the Brewers’ home.

“[Thomas] stayed with it the whole time, and got back to the wall, and made a spectacular jump. What a way to end the game though, right? We were on pins and needles throughout the whole game trying to come back and when CJ hit the home run, I thought, ‘Okay, we got the right guy out there,’ and he did a great job and the boys played really well. Big catch by Lane.”

“Just get back as quick as possible and make the play,” Thomas said when asked for his own thought process making the play.

“I think I was definitely planning on trying to throw that guy out if there was something in front of me, so I was kind of more worried about that than the play over your head, cause that’s just kind of — if the ball gets over your head the game’s not over.”

And Abrams’ 15th home run of the year, which completed the comeback and gave the Nats the lead?

“He gets a fastball out over the middle of plate, and hammered it,” Martinez said. “That was a big home run.”

PARKER’S ABBREVIATED OUTING:

Mitchell Parker gave up a double and a walk to the first two hitters he faced on Saturday in Milwaukee, then got back-to-back, swinging Ks before giving up a two-run double, another walk, and an RBI ground-rule double, and he was done for the day, trailing 5-0, after having thrown 46 pitches, 28 for strikes, with his velo actually playing up a bit, but his command a bit of an issue.

“Everything felt good on my part today,” Parker said, as quoted by MASN’s Mark Zuckerman, after a comeback, 6-5 win for the Nationals, who picked their starter up. “It was just one of those days when I couldn’t execute everything. I got punished for it and wasn’t able to get out of the first. It sucks, but I’m going to be able to learn a lot from it.”

His manager, Davey Martinez, said when Parker got up to 46 pitches in the first, it was too much to keep going, even though the bullpen was beat up heading into the game.

“It was the pitch count,” Martinez explained. “And — uncharacteristic to him, he wasn’t around the plate like he normally is. It was a lot of balls, a lot of foul balls, and I didn’t see it getting any better today. I thought, hey, let’s just get him out, get him a break, he gets the All-Star break, and let’s reset him and get him going.”

Parker took the mound with a 3.44 ERA and a 3.91 FIP in 16 starts and 91 ²⁄₃ IP on the year, but he finished the game at 3.90 and 3.92. It was a disappointing end to what was a solid first-half for the rookie lefty.

“I’m going to look, but it looked like his arm slot was a little lower,” Martinez said in trying to sort out what went wrong for Parker, “… kind of pushing everything up. So I’m going to take a look at everything and see where he’s at, but after 40-something pitches, you expect him to get a little tired out there, so I chose to just get him out of there.”

Photo by John Fisher/Getty Images

That his team was able to recover from the rough start, with Jordan Weems (1 ²⁄₃ IP), Jacob Barnes (2 ²⁄₃ IP), Dylan Floro (2 IP), Derek Law (1 IP), and Kyle Finnegan (1 IP, S – 25), holding the Brewrs off the board after the first.

“That was an unbelievable win,” Martinez said after the game. “The boys stayed in it. We battled back. I can’t say enough about what the bullpen did today. They were saviors, they really were. They came in and they threw zeroes up the rest of the game, and we got enough runs to beat a really good team. To come back after a 5-0 deficit, it’s not easy. And like I said, the boys never quit, and they went out and battled and what a huge home run by CJ, but they had good at-bats all day.”

ALSO THIS:

With the 2024 MLB Draft tonight (the Nationals have the 10th overall pick) and the 2024 Trade Deadline fast approaching (on July 30th) GM and President of Baseball Ops Mike Rizzo told The Sports Junkies this past Wednesday he and his staff were ready for a busy couple weeks.

“It’s an important couple of weeks, we’re in it, and we’re immersed in it and we do nothing else but it,” Rizzo said.

“It’s a crazy time,” Rizzo added at another point, “… but it’s as fun and [as] pure [a] baseball time as you’ll get during the season beyond the playing field. And we’re excited about it, and looking forward to taking another step forward and becoming a championship-caliber club again.”

The Athletic’s Patrick Mooney, Will Sammon, Katie Woo, and Ken Rosenthal reported earlier this month the Nationals were preparing to shift into sell-mode heading into the deadline, with pending free agents Jesse Winker and Dylan Floro, and controllable players like Lane Thomas, Kyle Finnegan, and Hunter Harvey, mentioned as potential players who could be moved as the rebooting ballclub tries to take another big step back towards contention.

Rizzo and Co. made a trade after Saturday afternoon’s win over the Brewers on the road in Milwaukee, sending Harvey to the Kansas City Royals in return for Cayden Wallace, ranked No. 2 on MLB Pipeline’s list of the Royals’ top prospects before the deal, and a competitive balance pick (No. 39 overall) in this year’s draft.

“Wallace, 22, is Kansas City’s No. 2 overall prospect according to MLBPipeline.com and their No. 5 prospect, per Baseball America,” the club noted in a press release on the trade.

“He joins the Nationals organization after hitting .280 with nine doubles, three home runs, 18 RBI, 10 walks, three stolen bases and 19 runs scored in 41 games between Double-A Northwest Arkansas and the Arizona Complex League Royals.”

“With the acquisition of Kansas City’s competitive balance draft pick, the Nationals will now have three selections on the first day of the 2024 First-Year Player Draft, picks 10, 39 and 44 overall,” the Nationals added.