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Nationals Come Up From Behind to Trip Up Senators |
July 17, 2008. Fairfax, Va. -- Over the past week, the Senators have endured a number of close defeats. Over that time, their pitching staff and bullpen has had to pitch a number of innings, and it has shown in their recent performances. The Senators offense staked the team to another lead Thursday night against the Fairfax Nationals, but they were victimized in the ninth inning, as they lost to the Nationals 8-7.
With the Senators leading 7-6 entering the ninth inning and staff ace Eric Cantrell pitching, it seemed like they had the game wrapped up. Cantrell had already struck out the side in the eighth inning. However, Chris Briere, who had already homered once in the game, took a high fastball from Cantrell deep to left field to tie the game.
The Nationals caught a break after that. Zach Costello hit a high chopper that bounced off of the infield and over a leaping Martin Parra into left field. Costello was able to stretch it into a double. Cantrell then intentionally walked John Ralston to set up the double play. With the Senators expecting a bunt, they put the wheel play on, but Alex Guerra failed on his first bunt attempt. Before the second pitch, Cantrell whirled to second, and appeared to have Costello, who had a big lead because he was expecting the wheel play, picked off. However, Cantrell threw the ball into center field, and allowed Ralston to advance to third.
Cantrell then intentionally walked Guerra to set up a force play at home. All Brant Jones had to do was lift a deep fly ball, and the Nationals would win the game. Jones did exactly that, hitting it to deep center, and the Nationals walked off with the win.
The Senators had closer Jimmy Duggan warming up in the bullpen and available to pitch, if needed. However, manager Chris Burr decided to stick it out with his ace, Cantrell.
“Duggan was available, but Cantrell has such good stuff that we went with him,” said Burr. “He just left a ball up that got hit out of the park, and that's baseball. The disappointing part is what happened after the home run ball. Tonight we exacerbated our problems with an ineffective performance and a lack of execution.”
Up until that time, the Senators bullpen had performed admirably. After starter Michael Graham only last four innings, a combination of Mason Griffin, Chad Johnson, and Cantrell to hold the lead until that fateful ninth inning.
Griffin is a familiar face for Senators' fans. Griffin, a rising senior at Tulane University, has been the Senators' closer each of the past two years. He has also been a selection for the Clark-Griffith League All-League team in both of those years. He is just joining the team this year after finishing class at Tulane. With Duggan performing so well in the closer's role, Griffin projects to be a middle reliever for the team.
Griffin, a right-handed sidearmer, struggled a little bit with his command in his first outing for the Senators. He walked one batter, and hit two more. However, he was able to escape a couple of jams, and allowed only one run in two innings.
“Today was the first time that I've thrown to a catcher all summer,” said Griffin. “I've been doing long toss and stuff, but it was tough being out there in a real game in a while.”
Both teams' bullpens were put to work early, as both starters made early exits. Nationals starter JD Polcari, coming off of a no-hitter in his last outing, was pounded by Senators hitters for seven runs in less than five innings of work.
“He lived on the outside part of the plate, which I think hurt him because I think we got to him pretty good in the beginning,” said catcher Blake Tagmyer. “He didn't really an off-speed out-pitch, so we had to react to all pitches, and I think our team did a great job with that.”
Tagmyer was a bright spot for the Senators in the game. With Mario Williams unavailable for the game, and starting catcher Eric Walker's legs growing tired, Tagmyer was pressed into duty as an emergency catcher. Tagmyer has been a super-utility player all season, as has seen significant playing time at the outfield corner spots, second base, and first base. He performed admirably picking up his new position on the fly. In addition to not making any defensive mistakes, Tagmyer reached base four times in the game.
“That's actually probably the first time that I have caught since middle school,” said Tagmyer. “I thought I did pretty well, and having Coach Burr coach me through [all of these positions] has really made me a better player.”
“We were short a guy today, and I can't catch Walker every day,” said Burr, “so it was huge for us to have Blake be able to catch.”
Senators starter Michael Graham didn't fare any better than Polcari, as he allowed five runs in four innings of work. The big blow was a three-run home run to left field by Briere in the second inning. Briere finished the game with four hits, two home runs, and four RBI.
Andrew Struckmeyer
Vienna Senators