'D' betrays Corbin: 'Patrick didn't deserve that'
WASHINGTON -- There were two outs in a scoreless third inning. Then, there were seven unearned runs.
Patrick Corbin had retired Alec Bohm and Matt Vierling before defensive miscues changed the course of the game in the Nationals’ 10-1 loss to the Phillies on Thursday at Nationals Park.
“Patrick today didn’t deserve that,” manager Dave Martinez said. “We gave him 30 outs today. We gave him six outs in one inning. You can’t do that when a team comes in swinging the bats the way [the Phillies] can swing.”
The momentum quickly shifted when Yairo Muñoz’s ground ball that bounced off the mound to second base was misread by César Hernández. The fielding error gave way to a Phillies offensive surge that would take a total of 36 pitches to halt.
“The ball was hit awfully hard,” Martinez said. “He tried to get the in-between hopper, and I thought he should have just played back.”
Kyle Schwarber provided déjà vu by belting a two-run homer out of Nationals Park (like he did at the same time last season with Washington) to put the Phillies on the board. Rhys Hoskins’ double, Bryce Harper’s walk and Nick Castellanos’ single led to another run, but the deficit was still only three runs at that point.
Luis García, who was recently named the everyday starting shortstop, had an opportunity to close the gap there. But he did not nab J.T. Realmuto on a sharp grounder, and another run came home.
“The mental mistake, for me, was García not throwing the ball to second base on a slow hopper,” Martinez said. “I looked at it, and he could have had an easy play at second and just get the forceout.”
Didi Gregorius drove in two with a double to right field, and he scored when Josh Bell committed an error attempting to throw out Bohm at first with Corbin covering.
It is a drill Bell runs through regularly, but there are challenges in executing it from that angle as a right-hander.
“I just led him too far,” Bell said. “As soon as I let go of the ball, I knew that I had a little bit more time to get a higher and more accurate throw on the way.”
Following Vierling’s single to left, the inning concluded when Corbin struck out Muñoz. The Nationals headed to the dugout trailing, 7-0, on seven unearned runs. Corbin is the second pitcher to allow seven unearned runs in an inning this season. The first to do so was Josh Fleming out of the Rays’ bullpen against the Mariners on April 26.
“It’s part of the game,” Corbin said. “You still try to make some pitches, try to get out of it. I felt really good, and then I think I threw 45 pitches that inning and kind of was just shot after that.”
Corbin’s outing ended three batters later -- including a second dinger by Schwarber -- after throwing 84 pitches in 3 1/3 frames (eight hits, nine runs, two earned runs, one walk, two strikeouts).
“Unfortunately for Corbin, because of that long inning, he was unable to go any longer than what he did,” said Hernández.
The Nationals have a quick turnaround to erase their errors -- they face the Phillies four more times this series, including a day-night doubleheader on Friday.
“We’ve got to start catching the ball, playing better, playing a little bit more heads-up baseball, we really do,” Martinez said. “And it’s not just the young guys making mistakes like that, so we’ve got to limit our mistakes. … Like I’ve always said, pitching and defense are going to win games for you, they really are, and baserunning. Hitting comes and goes.”