Washington Nationals lose series opener to Milwaukee Brewers, 7-0, but do turn a triple play...

Fedde in Milwaukee:

Erick Fedde didn’t last long last time out, throwing 82 pitches in 4+ innings on the mound against the Astros in Nationals Park.

Fedde walked three, struck out six, and gave up three runs on five hits before his manager, Davey Martinez, went to the ‘pen in the fifth.

“He was just — he couldn’t repeat his delivery for me, he couldn’t throw consistent strikes,” Martinez said after a 13-6 win in that game, “and then when he did it was too much of the plate, and then the walks. So, when you walk that many guys, and … he labored every inning. And [Pitching Coach Jim] Hickey and I were watching him and we thought at one point about the third inning we might have to get him, but he got some outs, but like I said, kudos to him, you can see the maturity where he’s fighting, trying to keep going, but I went out there to the mound, talked to him, and I said, ‘Hey, I appreciate everything you’ve done, but it’s a lot of pitches, and you had some high-leverage [situations] from the first pitch of the game, and he got it.

“Hopefully he bounces back in five days, but you know what, he gave us a chance to win the game.”

Fedde had a runner on in each of his first four innings tonight, but he stranded all four and held the home team off the board early in the series opener in Milwaukee, with 64 pitches overall in four innings.

Fedde tossed his first clean inning in the fifth, an 11-pitch frame, but issued his third walk of the game to Luis Urías in the first plate appearance in the sixth, and one out later, Brewers’ catcher Rowdy Tellez hit a first-pitch cutter out to right and way over the fence, 400 feet to right field, for a two-run home run and a 2-0 Milwaukee lead.

A two-out single ended Fedde’s outing in the sixth...

Erick Fedde’s Line: 5.2 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 4 Ks, 1 HR, 97 P, 59 S, 7/4 GO/FO.

Lauer’s Turn:

In six starts before tonight’s in the series opener with the Nationals, 26-year-old Brewers’ lefty Eric Lauer had a 2.60 ERA, a 3.59 FIP, eight walks, 49 Ks, and a .205/.250/.402 line against in 34 ²⁄₃ IP, and he was going up against a lineup that had put up a .241/.320/.321 line against lefties this season going in, which had them ranked at 4th/4th/14th across the line among National League teams before tonight.

Lauer was efficient and effective against the Nationals tonight, throwing 5.0 scoreless on 63 pitches, working around three hits, striking out four, and inducing seven ground ball outs in the first five innings.

After a quick, 12-pitch, 1-2-3 sixth, Lauer came out for the seventh at 75 pitches with a 2-0 lead courtesy of his first baseman, Rowdy Tellez, who hit a first-pitch cutter 400 feet out to right field, connecting for a two-run shot which gave the Brewers a 2-0 lead, and the starter gave up a long fly to right-center by Lane Thomas with one down...

Thomas raced around the bases as the Brewers’ right fielder Hunter Renfroe tracked the ball down, and he made a strong throw in to Kolten Wong, who threw home to Omar Narváez as Thomas went for an inside-the-park home run and got nailed at the plate. And with the replay system out*, apparently, since early in the game, the Nats didn’t have an opportunity to challenge the call after arguing that Narváez blocked the path to the plate. Drama. Nats’ skipper Davey Martinez was not pleased. Lauer completed a scoreless top of the seventh at 83 pitches.

[ed. note - “MASN’s Bob Carpenter, citing a note from Nationals’ PR, said the replay system was actually working after the issues in the first. So, you figure out why they wouldn’t look at a replay.”]

Eric Lauer’s Line: 7.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 Ks, 83 P, 57 S, 9/2 GO/FO.

Cruz’s Time-ing:

Going into tonight’s game, Nelson Cruz, the Nationals’ 41-year-old DH, was on a bit of a run, with hits in 7 of his last 11 games over which he was 11 for 41 (.268 AVG) with a double, two HRs, 8 RBIs, five walks, and six runs scored over that stretch. Cruz, a career .295/.383/.562 hitter vs LHPs, started the night 5 for 39 (.128/.277/.128) with eight walks and eight Ks in 48 PAs vs LHPs this season, but he singled in each of his first two trips up to the plate against Brewers’ lefty Eric Lauer, and he went 2 for 4 overall on the night.

Bullpen Action/Triple Play:

Victor Arano gave up a single after taking over for Erick Fedde in the sixth, but got the third out of the frame.

Carl Edwards, Jr. got the ball in the Brewers’ half of the seventh and walked the first two he faced, putting Jace Peterson and Kolten Wong on to start the inning, but Luis Urías hit one right to Maikel Franco at third in the next at-bat, and Franco stepped on the third base bag, threw to César Hernández over at second, and on to Josh Bell at first base... for the inning-ending triple play. 5-4-3 triple play. That was exciting...

Devin Williams took over for the home team in the top of the eighth, and worked around a two-out double by Juan Soto for a scoreless frame.

Austin Voth got the eighth for the Nationals and gave up a leadoff single by Christian Yelich, a double by Rowdy Tellez, and a base-loading walk to Andrew McCutchen in the first three at-bats, and Hunter Renfroe lined a high 2-1 fastball to right for a two-run single and a 4-0 Brewers’ lead. And 7-0 on a three-run home run by Tyrone Taylor... yep. That’s it for us.

Nationals now 13-27