Fedde ready to go after bounce-back start

WASHINGTON -- Nearly three-and-a-half hours before the Nationals dropped a 10-inning, 3-1 loss to the Marlins on Wednesday night, Erick Fedde took the mound for an important start. It was his first outing since getting chased after allowing six runs in just 1 1/3 innings on Friday against the Padres.

A bounce-back performance would be a momentum builder; another rough outing would do the opposite.

Fedde put that evening in the rearview mirror when he threw six strong frames against the Marlins in the series finale at Nationals Park. The right-hander allowed just one unearned run off four hits and one walk while fanning four with 84 pitches (52 strikes).

“[I felt] relief,” Fedde said. “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t stressing, and the last couple have been pretty awful.”

This efficient performance was a stark difference to his last start, when he ran his pitch count up to 57 against just 11 batters. Instead, he maneuvered the Marlins' lineup -- giving up just one unearned run in the fourth in a bases-loaded jam. After Starling Marte scored on a double-play ball, Fedde retired five consecutive batters, including a quick 1-2-3 fifth inning.

“He was pounding the strike zone,” manager Dave Martinez said. “He fell behind a couple times, but he was able to come back and throw strikes. He looked good.”

Since hitting his stride in the starting rotation, Fedde has struggled with consistency since returning from the COVID-19 injured list and an IL stint (oblique strain). So much so, he had allowed a combined 20 runs in his last four starts alone. Fedde’s six innings against the Marlins were the most since he tossed seven one month ago on June 18 vs. the Mets.

“I wasn’t waiting around for chases or trying to get a ton of punchouts,” Fedde said.

Fedde mixed his pitches with his sinker (51%), curveball (23%), cutter (14%), changeup (7%) and fastball (5%).

“Anybody that has a solid sinker that’s mid-90s, it’s awesome to have a secondary pitch that will keep guys from just pulling off and trying to get the sinker in the air, especially right-handed hitters,” first baseman Josh Bell said. “I think he did a really outstanding job of getting guys on the ground early, missing barrels and getting through their lineup.”

To get back to this point, Fedde watched game film to compare his stronger starts earlier in the season and those more recent in which he struggled. He honed in on gliding down the mound with his back leg, rather than pitching with “up-down-up” mechanics.

“It makes it a lot easier when it’s simplified like that and your head’s not moving up and down constantly,” Fedde noted.

Fedde’s ERA dipped from 5.32 to 4.88 in his 15th start of the season. Though the Nats ultimately dropped the extra-innings battle when Brad Hand allowed the deciding pair of runs in the 10th, Fedde was encouraged for his next start.

“To get that and give the team the chance to win that game, it’s nice and it gives me confidence going forward,” Fedde said.