Washington Nationals 8-6 over Milwaukee Brewers for second straight in D.C.

Corbin Goes For Three:

Patrick Corbin gave up eight hits, a walk, and five earned runs in Milwaukee last month, in a 5-1 loss which left him (0-7) in nine starts with a 6.60 ERA, a 4.73 FIP, and .295/.372/.465 line against in 43 ²⁄₃ innings pitched on the year. But he earned his first W of the 2022 season in his next start, and got his second win last time out before going facing the Brewers today in D.C.

“I felt pretty good overall,” Corbin told reporters after giving up three runs on nine hits in six innings against the Reds in Cincinnati last week, as quoted by MASN’s Bobby Blanco.

“They found some holes there in the first. Thought I made a couple of good pitches. They had some good swings there for a couple of hits. But just kind of stuck with our game plan and everything. Got in a really good rhythm there with [catcher Keibert] Ruiz and was able to finish the game strong and put up five zeros.”

Going for win No. 3 of his fourth year in the nation’s capital this afternoon, Corbin and the Nationals fell behind early, five pitches in early, when Brewers’ leadoff man Christian Yelich hit a homer 422 ft. out to center in Nationals Park on a 2-2 slider to put the visitors up 1-0 in the first.

Corbin (say it with me now) settled in nicely after the first, and got through three on just 42 pitches, and he came out for the fourth with a 4-1 lead, and retired the side in order in a 12-pitch frame. He worked around a leadoff walk and two-out single in a 17-pitch fifth, and got through five on 71 total with the three-run advantage intact, before the Nationals added a four-spot in the bottom of the inning, 8-1.

Corbin worked around a two-out walk in a scoreless, 17-pitch sixth, but gave up a leadoff double by Victor Caratini in the first at-bat of the seventh, before Lorenzo Cain hit one as well, lining an RBI double to left field to make it an 8-2 game in the Nationals’ favor. Mark Mathias followed up on the back-to-back doubles with a two-run shot to left field, 8-4. A single by Christian Yelich ended his outing...

Patrick Corbin’s Line: 6.0 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 2 Ks, 2 HRs, 103 P, 63 S, 7/5 GO/FO.

Lauer in D.C.:

Eric Lauer tossed seven scoreless against Washington last month in Milwaukee, giving up a total of five hits in an 83-pitch outing in a 4-1 win.

“Eric pitched a wonderful game, got into a great rhythm,” Brewers’ manager Craig Counsell told reporters after the left-hander’s scoreless outing in American Family Field.

In three starts which followed before his second outing of the season against the Nationals today, the 27-year-old starter put up a 3.00 ERA (5 ER in 15 IP), 4.55 FIP, and .250/.352/.383 line against.

Given a 1-0 lead to work with before he took the mound today, Lauer tossed two scoreless on 26 pitches, but he ran into trouble in the bottom of the third, with Luis García singling, Lane Thomas walking with one out, César Hernández singling to load the bases, and Juan Soto taking a bases-loaded walk to force in the Nationals’ first run, 1-1. Nelson Cruz lined a two-run double to left in the next at-bat, and Soto scored on a sac fly line drive to left field by Josh Bell, 4-1. Lauer threw 29 pitches in the third, leaving him at 55 total.

With one on and one out in the fifth, Juan Soto got hold of a 94 MPH 2-2 fastball and hit his 13th home run of the season, over the high GEICO wall to the right of center field to make it 6-1 Nationals, and it was 7-1 after Nelson Cruz hit an 0-1 cutter from Lauer to the same spot, but a few rows deeper, and 8-1 after Josh Bell hit the third consecutive dinger. No. 7 for Bell.

Eric Lauer’s Line: 5.0 IP, 7 H, 8 R, 8 ER, 4 BB, 2 K, 3 HRs, 99 P, 67 S, 7/5 GO/FO.

Bullpen Action:

Milwaukee turned to right-hander Peter Strzelecki in the bottom of the sixth, and he got hit on the hand by a comebacker, but stayed in and completed a scoreless frame.

Erasmo Ramírez took over for Patrick Corbin with a runner on first and no one out in the top of the seventh, and got a double play grounder out of Willy Adames with his first pitch, then Hunter Renfroe singled as well, so Nats’ skipper Davey Martinez went to the pen again, this time for Kyle Finnegan, who issued a base-loading walk to Luis Urías before Rowdy Tellez’s liner to first ended the inning with the score 8-4 in the Nationals’ favor.

Finnegan returned to the mound in the eighth, and worked around a two-out single for a scoreless frame.

Tanner Rainey got the ball in the top of the ninth, and gave up a one-out walk to Andrew McCutchen and a two-out, two-run home run to left by Luis Urías, 8-6, before he got out number three. Ballgame.

Nationals now 23-38