WASHINGTON – On a night when the Braves were shut down for eight innings by another focused and dominant Nationals starter, their own pitcher couldn’t put hitters away early and didn’t get much help from his defense.
Mike Foltynewicz threw more pitches (104) in five innings than Nationals starter Stephen Strasburg threw in eight (103) during the Nationals’ 4-1 win Tuesday on another chilly night at Nationals Park.
Post-game videos: Mike Foltynewicz | Brian Snitker
While “Stras” got in an groove after giving up a double and walk consecutively in the first inning, “Folty” didn’t have a clean inning until his fifth and final inning, by which point he trailed 3-0 and already was up against his pitch limit.
“I mean, it was a couple of tough rides there,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said of losses to Nationals co-aces Max Scherzer and Strasburg on consecutive nights, with Scherzer pitching a two-hit shutout with 10 strikeouts and no walks and Strasburg allowing three hits and two walks with eight strikeouts in eight scoreless innings.
“(Strasburg) was really good. He had a good change-up. Both of those guys, they’re two of the better pitchers in the league, and his stuff is probably right there with Scherzer.”
The Braves will try to avert a sweep on Thursday afternoon.
The Nationals scored two runs in the first inning for the second night in a row, this time on a two-out Ryan Zimmerman fly ball that center fielder Ender Inciarte tried to get with a sliding-catch attempt just to the left of center and had it bounce past his glove for a two-run triple.
“What’d he have, 54 pitches in the first two innings, something like that?” Snitker said, correctly citing Foltynewicz’s pitch count. “We’ve got to keep working on putting the pitcher away quicker for him. But overall, he hung in there. He went back out in the fifth and probably was as good as he was (all night). But I’m seeing progress in him. I see a lot of things moving forward that are really positive.
“The outcome wasn’t what he wanted today but the process is pretty good with him, I really like what I’m seeing. There’s just some things, like I say, a couple of almost-catches is three runs.”
Inciarte also missed on a diving attempt in the fourth inning when Brian Goodwin’s fly landed in front of his glove for a two-out RBI single and 3-0 lead.
“Yeah, but he’s just going for it, he’s trying to get it,” Snitker said, decling to criticize or second-guess Inciarte’s plays. “He’s getting after it and trying to do everything he can to try to end the inning. And it’s tough, too, because you’re kind of on the other side of second base when (Zimmerman) is up; that’s where he hits the ball. Lot of times when he hits the ball where he hit that one, it’s usually out of the ballpark. Didn’t get it real good and … just out of the reach.”
Goodwin’s fly ball in the fourth inning scored Wilmer Difo with an unearned run, after Difo reached on a Dansby Swanson botched grounder with one out in the inning. Strasburg kept the inning alive with a two-out walk on an eight-pitch plate appearance against Foltynewicz.
The Nationals also added an unearned run in the seventh when reliever Shane Carle made an errant throw to first base on a sacrifice bunt by, you guessed it, Strasburg.
“That’s baseball, right?” Swanson said of the misplays, mistakes and Foltynewicz’s struggles pitching to Strasburg. “Just one of those days. But we’ll get it figured out and clean it up. Looking forward to coming out tomorrow and playing well.”
When Foltynewicz was asked about Snitker’s assessment of there possibly being no runs against Foltynewicz if a couple of balls had landed a few feet from where they did, the pitcher didn’t blame anyone but himself.
“It’s just a tough day out there,” he said. “If I would have gotten the ball down a little more there might not have been them kind of in-between balls hit. Yeah, it’s just an unlucky, tough day, but that’s the result also of not getting ahead on first pitch. I had to throw some pitches in hitters’ counts that they were ready for just because I didn’t want to keep walking people.
“Just a tough day, a day where I didn’t really have anything going for me. The fifth inning (perfect inning with two strikeouts) I got it a little together with the slider and the off-speed and all that, but yeah, just a day when I battled and tried to keep the team in it as best I could.”
