In Wednesday night's 3-1 loss to the Braves, an early deficit mixed with a stellar pitching performance from veteran Tim Hudson kept the Nationals from coming away with their second straight victory.
Livan Hernandez has been a stalwart in a Nationals pitching rotation that has been plagued by injuries all season. Seemingly ageless, Hernandez could be expected to throw seven or eight innings in most of his starts. Wednesday night he fell far short of the typical Hernandez outing.
The Cuban righty lasted a paltry four and a third innings and gave up three runs. With just 85 pitches thrown, it was clear that Manager Jim Riggleman made the decision to take him out more based on his performance to that point than fatigue.
“That part of the lineup that was coming up,” Riggleman said. “I just felt like the way Hudson was throwing we couldn’t afford to give up any more runs.”
Most of the damage came in the first as Atlanta jumped out to a two run lead. A sacrifice fly from third baseman Chipper Jones got the Braves on the board and a successful double steal allowed Jason Heyward to score. Heyward was able to slide into home before a throw from first baseman Adam Dunn could get him out.
“I thought we might have been able to do it better,” Dunn said of the execution on the double steal. “I thought we did it good. He beat it because he’s [Jason Heyward] fast.”
On the other end of the pitching scale, Braves starter Tim Hudson was great as he allowed just one run through seven and two thirds innings. It took Hudson 96 pitches to get there. To put that in perspective, that’s eleven more pitches in three more innings than Hernandez.
“He’s got so many pitches he throws for strikes,” Dunn said. “His sinker’s so good you have to respect it. When he’s throwing it down and throwing it for strikes it’s a long day, like today.”
Once Washington’s bullpen took over for Hernandez, the goal was to try to keep the damage to three runs. They succeed as Atlanta did not score for the rest of the night. The problem was the Nationals bats could not combat Hudson or the Atlanta bullpen that closed it out for him.
Jonny Venters and Billy Wagner combined for one and a third shutout innings to keep the Nationals bats quiet for the night. The only run of the game came off the bat of Michael Morse who had entered as a replacement for right fielder Roger Bernadina.
“I know that since I’ve seen him here [Hudson]’s been really good,” Riggleman said after the game. “You just got to say you are very impressed with him. He always seems to be deep in the ballgame against us.”
Despite the loss on Wednesday, the Nationals have got a bit of good news for Thursday’s game as lefty Scott Olsen takes the mound, returning from a stint on the disabled list with an injured shoulder.
You can reach this staff writer at slindauer@theeagleonline.com.
