Washington Nationals news & notes: Nats lose mistake-filled finale with Red Sox, 3-2, drop two of three in Fenway…

Notes and quotes from Sunday’s series finale in Fenway Park…

WILL GORE BOUNCE BACK?:

MacKenzie Gore worked around a single and a throwing error by catcher Riley Adams in the home-half of the first inning on Sunday afternoon, but a leadoff walk, single, and ROE on an entirely catchable fly to center Victor Robles just didn’t catch (it went in and out of his glove on a routine play), proved too much to overcome for the starter.

Gore got an out at home in the next at-bat, but a ground-rule double on a fly to short right which landed fair and bounced out of play allowed two runs to score, and a wild pitch got one in as well, 3-0 Boston, and the Red Sox made those three early runs hold up.

Eddie Rosario homered (again?), connecting for his 5th of the year, and 4th in six games, but the two-run blast accounted for the only runs the Nationals scored in the third game Washington played in Fenway Park this weekend, 3-2 final.

It didn’t help that the Nationals ran into multiple outs on the basepaths, and managed just five hits, going 1 for 3 with runners in scoring position, and four runners left on base in the rubber match of the three-game set.

Gore settled in after the rough second, striking out nine overall, and giving up six hits and the three runs, two earned, while walking two batters in a 111-pitch start, in which he got a total of 17 swinging and 14 called strikes.

“This one was frustrating as a group, but we’re going to be alright,” Gore said after the Nats dropped 2 of 3 to the Sox. “We just got to clean up a few things here and there. There were some hits I gave up with two strikes, just were not good execution, and just some things that we could do a little better. So we’re going to be alright. We’ve got a game tomorrow to try to win.”

What could he have done better?

“Just some execution with two strikes, understanding the hitter and what they do well,” Gore said, “… and where the ball needs to be. But like I said, it was just as good as a whole outing-wise. We just got to keep getting better.”

“We made some mistakes,” manager Davey Martinez said, stating the obvious. “A dropped fly ball, we ran into some outs on the bases and it cost us. It might have cost us the game, you don’t know that, but when you make those kinds of mistakes, it’s definitely going to hamper the way you finish the game.

“So it was unfortunate, because MacKenzie settled down and he pitched really, really well. He threw the ball well.”

“I’m glad [Gore] finished up strong like that,” Martinez added at another point in his post-game presser.

“It was a growth moment for him to go that much, six innings, I think 110-111 pitches. It was good for him to do that.”

ROBLES’S ERROR AND BASERUNNING GAFFE:

In addition to the dropped fly ball, on what was really a routine play, Victor Robles ran into an out on the basepaths in Sunday’s game, far too familiar a thing for the soon-to-turn 27-year-old outfielder, who’s been playing well since returning from an IL stint for a hamstring issue, but looked a little bit like the Robles of the last few seasons in the series finale with the Red Sox.

Trailing 3-0 in the third, Riley Adams singled to start the inning, then Robles reached on an error as the visitors started to put something together in Fenway Park, but CJ Abrams hit a single to right in the next at-bat, and Robles kept running around second, and headed over to third, not noticing, apparently, how Adams stopped there. The Sox threw it in and got an out from Robles, as he made an embarrassed retreat, and a groundout later any hope of a rally ended.

Photo By Winslow Townson/Getty Images

“As soon as the base hit was hit, I was the whole time looking to go to third base, get an extra base out of it,” Robles explained, as quoted by MASN’s Bobby Blanco after the loss.

“But it was my mistake that as soon as I saw they hit the ball – it was hit very well – and as I’m running around second base, I never looked up to look for Riley. Just saw the ball and I just didn’t know. It was by mistake.”

“I’m gonna be totally honest with you,” Davey Martinez said, when the manager was asked about Robles’s mistakes in his post game presser, “I wanted to take him out of the game.

“And I couldn’t because [Jesse] Winker was hurt a little bit. I knew that [Winker] had back spasms.”

“That can’t happen. That can’t happen,” he said of Robles’s gaffes. “It changed the game a little bit there. We could have been out of [the second] inning.

“Those are the things that, as I talk about with Luis García being here so long that we had to clean up, we got to clean those things up with him as well. That just can’t happen anymore.”

“Vic’s got to run with his head up,” Martinez added of the out on the basepaths. “He had a catcher running in front of him.”

The manager said it was something he’d address with the outfielder.

“I’m going to talk to him tomorrow. I needed him focused in the game, he needed to play, but I’m going to talk to him tomorrow about it, because we can’t allow that to happen.”

WEEKEND UPDATES – LEFTOVER NOTES; QUOTES:

Some quick hits and leftover bits from the weekend that was in Boston, MA:

CADE CAVALLI THROWS AGAIN:

Cade Cavalli, the Nationals’ 2020 1st Round pick, who’s working his way back from Tommy John surgery with an eye on returning to the mound and (hopefully) the Nationals’ rotation later this season, threw a live bullpen this weekend.

“Cade Cavalli threw a live BP yesterday,” manager Davey Martinez told reporters before the series opener with the Red Sox on Friday night.

“He threw the ball well again. So he’s getting better. He’s well on his way, so that’s fun.”

Cavalli, according to the Nats’ skipper, threw 45 pitches in the live BP, and came out of it feeling good.

Photo by Saul Martinez for The Washington Post via Getty Images

“He threw 2 ²⁄₃ innings today. He threw one five days ago. He’s doing good,” Martinez said.

As for any benchmarks, or hurdles he has to clear before he starts a rehab assignment and gets back to competitive action?

“It’s a feeling and it’s progression,” Martinez explained.

“With Tommy John, you basically know what the timeline is. So we’re gonna stick as close as we can to that timeline.

“We work backwards from when he should be done to get him to this point.”

RUNNING GAME:

[ed. note – “This was written before Sunday’s game.”]

Victor Robles was caught stealing in Saturday’s game against the Red Sox, in the Nationals’ only attempt at a stolen base in the 4-2 loss, and as of Sunday morning, the club was ranked second in the majors with 66 stolen bases as a team, behind only the Cincinnati Reds (67), a total of 13 stolen bases ahead of the third-place team (Milwaukee, 53).

Not only that, but it’s a team effort for Washington, with 14 different players having stolen at least one base [ed. note – “C’mon, Keibert Ruiz, Nick Senzel, and Riley Adams, the only non-pitchers on the roster with a stolen base, get running.”]

Manager Davey Martinez was asked over the weekend if the entire team has been given the green light to run when they want to as the club embraces the running game this year, and tries to turn singles and walks into doubles and take an extra base whenever they can.

Photo By Winslow Townson/Getty Images

“We’re teaching our guys how to be aggressive,” Martinez said, “but aggressive-smart on the bases. We’re doing a lot of different things with all these guys, and making them alert before the games what we can and we can’t do.

“So there’s times where I let them go, there’s times where I don’t depending on the game.

“But the biggest thing for me is to trying to get to scoring position as fast as we can. I think it helps our hitters out. So that’s what we’re trying to do.

“We’re more athletic than we’ve ever been, so it’s fun to watch these guys go out there and play the game, and play the way they’re playing. We’re not going to sugarcoat anything, it’s just how we are and who we are right now.

“So we’re going to keep pushing the envelope a little bit.

“The job is to score one more than the other guys and we’re going to continue to try to do that.”

[ed. note – “Riley Adams sole his first base of the year on Sunday (Eddie Rosario stole one too), but CJ Abrams and Jacob Young were thrown out trying, Young for the final out.”]

LIPSCOMB ROUND 2:

Trey Lipscomb went down for seven games earlier this season, after an impressive showing in Spring Training which almost earned him a spot on the Opening Day roster, and solid run with the big league club when an injury created an opportunity early.

After an 0 for 3 game on Saturday in Fenway, the 23-year-old infielder had a .242/.324/.284 line in 29 games and 109 plate appearances on the year, but a .261/.370/.283 line in the 15 games he’s played and the 54 PAs he’d had since he was called back up on April 24th, with more walks than Ks (7/6) in that stretch, and three stolen bases (for seven total on the year).

“He’s doing really well,” Davey Martinez told reporters when the manager was asked about his infielder’s second stint with the club before Saturday’s game.

Photo by Maddie Malhotra/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images

“The biggest thing, as I always tell him, is just, ‘Be where your feet are, and take care of the seconds.’ He’s done that really well. And, ‘Stay within yourself.’ I said, ‘You’re a guy that stays on the baseball, you hit the ball the other way. Just when you’re asked upon to do something for the team, just get it done.’ And he’s done that. He’s playing really good defense. I know he’s worked really hard on setting his feet for his throwing with [Third Base and Infield Coach] Ricky [Gutierrez], and he’s doing a lot better. But he’s playing really well. You know, he stole some big bases for us, he’s doing everything we asked him to do.”

The biggest area of growth, or improvement, for Lipscomb since the start of Spring Training this year?

“His preparation,” Martinez said. “As I always say, for some young kids, routine is big, right, and he’s learning what his routine is, and he’s been doing it religiously.

“It’s fun to watch these kids come up and have a little bit of success and then all of a sudden they gain that confidence, and he’s done that.”