Washington Nationals fall as bullpen crumbles yet again

The Nationals bullpen melted down for a second straight game to open the season

The Washington Nationals fell to the Philadelphia Phillies 11-6, giving the Fightin Phils the series win. It was a game that followed a familiar pattern to Opening Day. The Nationals took an early lead on a Keibert Ruiz homer before the bullpen squandered it.

Jake Irvin took the mound for the Nats and he gave the team five quality innings. It wasn’t the breathtaking display of dominance we saw on Opening Day from MacKenzie Gore, but he got the job done. Besides a fourth inning homer to Bryson Stott, Irvin did a good job getting himself out of jams.

Meanwhile, the Nats were mostly struggling to make contact against Jesus Luzardo. The newly acquired Phillies southpaw struck out 11 over five innings. A main culprit was Dylan Crews who was saddled with a platinum sombrero, going 0-5 with 5 K’s.

However, between the whiffs, the Nats actually got going in the second inning. After Amed Rosario got his first hit as a Nat, Keibert Ruiz went deep for the second time in as many games. This time he went yard from the right side of the plate.

I wonder if Keibert is the next formerly maligned Nats position player to have a post-hype breakout. Last year it was Luis Garcia Jr., this year it could be Keibert.

The positives ended when the bullpen entered the game. As was the case on Opening Day, the combination of Colin Poche and Lucas Sims absolutely killed the Nats. Poche is now 0-2 and we are only two games into the season. Sims allowed a homer, walked in a run and gave up a run on a wild pitch. It was little league stuff out there. MASN’s Mark Zuckerman put out a tweet about the bullpen, and it was ugly.

The last time the bullpen looked this bad early in a season was 2019, and hey that worked out well. I do think it is fair to have a significant level of concern about the state of the bullpen.

After Poche and Sims made the game 7-2, Orlando Ribalta came in and got roughed up himself, allowing four runs in two innings. I would have loved to see Brad Lord get a shot to pitch today and complete his journey from Home Depot to the MLB, but Davey went with Eduardo Salazar who was solid.

The Nationals bats got going in the late innings with the game out of hand. Newcomers Amed Rosario and Nathaniel Lowe both hit their first homers as Nats. The Nats actually had a respectable 12 hits on the day, with Lowe, Wood, Abrams, Ruiz, and Rosario all having multi-hit days. So it was good to see the offense show some life.

However, the story of Opening Weekend has been the bullpen. It is something the Nationals need to figure out. This bullpen has a chance to torpedo the season. It is only two games, but they simply haven’t gotten people out. Its worth noting that Jorge Lopez, the best reliever the Nats picked up in the offseason has not pitched yet and Derek Law is out, but we are seeing a soft underbelly in the Nats bullpen. I really hope the guys can find a way to stabilize and become even an average unit.

There have been some positives to take away from the first couple games, especially Keibert Ruiz and MacKenzie Gore’s performances. However, this bullpen is really leaving a sour taste in the mouth of Nationals fans.