The Washington Nationals survive in an extremely stressful win

It was not pretty in the slightest, but the Washington Nationals are back in the win column. They eked out a 4-3 win in extra innings. Foster Griffin was brilliant, and they bounced back from yet another bullpen collapse to get the job done. When a hero was needed, Justin Lawrence stepped up in the top of the 10th to get a monster save.

Scoring was tough to come by in this contest. Both starting pitchers were excellent. Brandon Young of the O’s was getting a ton of swings and misses tonight. He got 23 whiffs in only 5 innings, which is a huge number. His splitter was really fooling Nats hitters. However, the approach of the offense left a lot to be desired tonight even accounting for Young’s sharp stuff.

However, Foster Griffin was even better than Young. Griffin had a laborious first two innings of work, throwing over 50 pitches. He got the efficiency under control as the game went on though, getting through 7 innings without allowing an earned run. Griffin had big time strikeout stuff early in the game, getting 8 K’s in 3 innings. Down the stretch though, Griffin relied more on soft contact, showing how versatile he is as a pitcher.

Watching Foster Griffin pitch is such a joy to watch. He is not going to blow anyone away, but he has so many different pitches and pinpoint command. In Griffin’s last inning of work, he did not throw a single 4-seamer or sinker. You are truly going to see the kitchen sink from Foster, and it has been working so well for him.

Earlier in the season, there is no chance that Blake Butera would put Griffin out for the 7th inning with his pitch count nearly at 100. However, Griffin has earned the managers trust, and well the bullpen has not.

The boys did not give Griffin a ton of run support, but they did scratch across a few runs. Luis Garcia Jr. continued his monster month of June, hitting a mammoth homer at 114 MPH. That was the hardest hit ball of Garcia’s career and it flew out into the street. 

This has been the best month of Luis Garcia’s career, particularly from a power standpoint. He has hit 9 homers this month and 11 since May 22nd. Early in Garcia’s career, that is the number of homers he would hit in a season. However, he has really grown into his frame and has become a true contact and power threat. He already has 14 homers this year, closing in on his career high of 18.

When Griffin exited the game, the score was 3-1, but the Nats bullpen did their thing again. This time it was Orlando Ribalta’s turn to blow it. He was tasked with coming in the game with 1 on and two outs. Ribalta proceeded to throw back to back meatballs to Pete Alonso and Samuel Basallo, and just like that the game was tied.

Clayton Beeter actually looked very sharp in the 9th, which sent the game to extras. In a bullpen filled with guys who are just flat out bad, Beeter is an interesting case. He is one of the few guys who has the stuff to dominate hitters. However, his erratic command makes him impossible to fully trust. Tonight we saw the best of Beeter, pounding the zone and finishing guys off with his slider. He is a Jekyll and Hyde reliever, which is more than you can say about most of these guys.

In the 10th, the Nats struck right away with Daylen Lile driving home the ghost runner. Jorbit Vivas got on with his third hit of the night. However, with guys on first and second with nobody out, Blake Butera elected not to bunt with Nasim Nunez, who struck out. The inning really fizzled out after that.

With Justin Lawrence coming on, with the ghost runner at second, it felt like the best case was a tied game, and a walkoff felt likely. Lawrence buckled down though. He got a ground out to start the inning, but that allowed the tying run to get to third. After that Lawrence got another ground ball, which CJ Abrams made a nice play on to nab the runner at home.

At that point things felt good, but this is the Nationals bullpen after all, so they had to make things interesting. The debuting Lawrence gave up a hit to Gunnar Henderson and walked Pete Alonso. However, the sidearmer got yet another ground ball and the game was over. The Nats finally snapped their brutal four game losing streak, with a reliever on the mound who was not in the organization when this streak started. For a bullpen that is searching for answers, that feels quite fitting. The Nats are back to .500 and got a much needed curly W.