Washington Nationals drop third straight; second in a row to Miami Marlins, 5-3

TAY-troh:

Jackson Tetreault, 26, gave up nine hits, a walk, and seven earned runs in four innings in his MLB debut, then allowed six hits and two walks in seven innings of work in start No. 2, with three unearned runs scoring in that outing, and the right-hander put it all together the third time out, holding hitters to four hits, two walks, and one run in six strong in which he threw 99 pitches to 23 batters.

“He’s done well,” manager Davey Martinez said after start No. 3 for the right-hander.

“We’ll go back and look at some things, talk to him tomorrow about some different things that we saw, and then make a couple adjustments and then go from there.”

Start No. 4 for Tetreault began with a leadoff walk to Jon Berti, who stole second (his 25th stolen base this season, the Nats have 30 as a team), and one out later, Jesús Aguilar hit a first-pitch fastball down and in out to left for a two-run shot and a 2-0 Marlins’ lead.

Tetreault worked around leadoff and one-out walks in the second, and his teammates tied it up at 2-2 in the bottom of the inning, but Garrett Cooper doubled to start the third, went to third on groundout, and scored when the Nationals failed to turn a 6-3 DP, with Luis García fielding a Jesus Aguilar grounder, stepping on second, and firing the throw to first well wide of the bag, 3-2 Fish.

Nick Fortes threw his bat at a 0-2 cutter outside and lined it to the left-center gap, where Victor Robles got a glove on it, but barely, triple, and a sacrifice fly to center field, off of Miguel Rojas’s bat, put the Marlins up by two, 4-2. Bryan De La Cruz singled, and Jon Berti got on when Luis García threw one away on a grounder to short in the next at-bat, then a walk to Garrett Cooper loaded the bases for Jesús Aguilar, who sent a grounder to third to start an inning-ending 5-3 DP.

Jackson Tetreault’s Line: 4.0 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 5 BB, 1 K, 1 HR, 84 P, 44 S, 6/3 GO/FO.

Castano’s Turn:

Daniel Castano, 27, was acquired by Miami along with Sandy Alcantara, Zac Gallen, and Magneuris Sierra in the December 2017 trade which sent Marcell Ozuna to the St. Louis Cardinals. He debuted for the Marlins in 2020’s 60-game campaign, and going into this afternoon’s outing, the left-hander had a 3.18 ERA, a 4.90 FIP, and a .258/.338/.485 line against in three starts and 17 IP since he moved into the Marlins’ rotation after he made three appearances out of the bullpen in April/May.

Castano worked around a one-out walk to Juan Soto, with a 5-4-3 DP in the next AB, but two errors in the second put him in a jam, and recently-called-up catcher Tres Barrera made the Marlins pay for their mistakes, with a two-out single to left which drove both runners in and tied things up at 2-2 in the bottom of the inning.

Barrera took second on the throw home on the play, and third on a wild pitch, but was left on.

Castano held the Nationals to the one run through four, as the Marlins jumped out to a 4-2 lead, and he took the mound in the fifth at 62 pitches overall, and a quick 18-pitch frame, in which he worked around a two-out hit by Victor Robles, left him at 80 overall, but his 82nd pitch of the game, a 1-0 cutter to Juan Soto, went out to left field for Soto’s 15th of ‘22, and that was it for Miami’s starter, who got into the sixth, but didn’t record an out...

Daniel Castano’s Line: 5.0 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 Ks, 1 HR, 82 P, 51 S, 7/1 GO/FO.

Bullpen Action:

Andres Machado came on for the Nationals in the top of the fifth, and retired the side in order on eight pitches, and he stranded two in the sixth, to keep it a two-run game, 4-2 Marlins.

Zach Pop took over for the Marlins in the sixth, with a 4-3 lead, and got three quick outs.

Reed Garrett gave up a leadoff double to right field by Jesús Aguilar in the top of the seventh, and one out later a wild pitch moved Aguilar up to third, before he scored on Avisaíl García’s RBI single to left field.

Luis García singled off righty Anthony Bass in the bottom of the seventh, and pinch hitter Keibert Ruiz singled to center field to put two on in front of yet another pinch hitter, Yadiel Hernández, who K’d looking at a high, 95 MPH 2-2 fastball. César Hernández stepped in next, with two on and two out, and sent a fly to right field to end the threat. Still 5-3 Fish.

Steve Cishek retired the Marlins in order in the top of the eighth.

Marlins’ lefty Steven Okert came on to face Juan Soto in the Nats’ half of the eighth, and the southpaw struck Soto out looking on a 3-2 slider which was pretty clearly outside.

Cishek came back out for the top of the ninth, and struck out two in a 1-2-3 frame.

Tanner Scott got the ball with a two-run lead, and the lefty worked around a one-out hit by Lane Thomas for a scoreless frame which ended the game. Final Score: 5-3 Marlins

Nationals now 29-51