Washington Nationals lose 10-1 in second-half opener with Arizona Diamondbacks

Corbin Returns To AZ:

Patrick Corbin showed signs of life in his last few starts before the All-Star Break, but in his final first-half outing, the recently-turned 33-year-old lefty struggled a bit, giving up nine hits, two walks, and six runs, five earned, in a five-inning, 106-pitch outing against Atlanta.

“He wasn’t the norm like he has been the last few starts where he was getting ahead and getting early contact,” Nats’ skipper Davey Martinez said after an 8-4 loss to the Braves in Nationals Park.

“Today was a little different. He fell behind and like I said some of the balls were up that were home runs, so tough day.”

In three starts in July, Corbin had a 5.00 ERA, a 4.33 FIP, and a .329/.370/.474 line against in 18 IP on the month before tonight.

Back in Arizona, where he pitched for the Diamondbacks for six years before signing with the Nationals in 2018-19, Corbin tossed two scoreless to start, on 34 pitches, but gave up three straight 1-out singles and a 3-run home run in the third, with Geraldo Perdomo, Carson Kelly, and Jordan Luplow all connecting for hits, with Luplow’s driving Perdomo in, 1-0, before Ketel Marte hit a 1-1 change 423 feet to center field in Chase Field to make it a 4-0 game.

Daulton Varsho hit a one-out single off Corbin the home-half of the fourth, and scored on a two-out single by Carson Kelly, who was 3 for 3 with a run scored and an RBI after the hit, 5-0 D-backs.

Patrick Corbin’s Line: 5.0 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 1 BB, 7 Ks, 1 HR, 99 P, 64 S, 5/3 GO/FO.

Gallen vs D.C.:

Zac Gallen, 26, started the 2022 campaign (4-0) in his first nine starts, with a 2.32 ERA, 2.95 FIP, 12 walks, 49 Ks, and a .186/.255/.284 line against in 50 ¹⁄₃ IP, but he took the mound for the series opener with Washington in Arizona tonight winless in his last eight turns in the Diamondbacks’ rotation, with a 4.89 ERA, 5.19 FIP, and a .242/.330/.460 line against in 43 ¹⁄₃ IP over that stretch.

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Gallen, a 2016 3rd Round pick by St. Louis, who was traded by the Cardinals to the Miami Marlins in the Marcell Ozuna trade in 2017, then dealt to the D-backs in ‘19, straight up for Jazz Chisholm, Jr., held the Nationals hitless through 5 ²⁄₃ innings pitched tonight, before César Hernández hit a grounder back to the mound and off the starter’s glove for an infield hit to break up the Gallen’s nascent no-hit bid, but he stranded the second runner to reach base (after an ROE in the 3rd), and completed six scoreless on 80 pitches.

Gallen returned to the mound in the top of the seventh, and stranded Juan Soto three outs after a leadoff single by the Nats’ No. 3 hitter, completing a 17-pitch inning at 97 total in a 6-0 game in the D-backs’ favor.

Zac Gallen’s Line: 7.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 7 Ks, 99 P, 64 S, 11/3 GO/FO.

SotOBP Streak:

With a home run in his final plate appearance last Sunday, Juan Soto extended his on-base streak to 26-straight games (a career-high, and the longest active streak in the majors), and the 23-year-old had a .505 OBP with 27 hits and 27 walks over the course of the streak. He singled to start the 7th, and extend his streak to 27-straight.

Bullpen Action:

Jordan Weems was the first arm out of the pen for the Nationals, and the right-hander gave up a bomb of a 451-foot home run by Daulton Varsho with two outs, on a 98 MPH fastball in and low Varsho crushed, 6-0. 451? Jeez.

Hunter Harvey gave up a 1-out triple to the right field corner by Ketel Marte in the D-backs’ half of the 7th, and a sac fly by Christian Walker made it a 7-0 game.

Ian Kennedy tossed a quick, scoreless, top of the eighth.

Victor Arano got the eighth for the Nationals, and an error on Maikel Franco gave the D-backs a leadoff runner who scored after a groundout and RBI single, 8-0.

Back-to-back, one-out walks loaded the bases, then forced in a run later in the D-backs’ eighth, 9-0, and a sac fly made it an even 10-0.

César Hernández doubled to left, moved up on a wild pitch by Edwin Uceta, and scoredon a groundout by Keibert Ruiz, 10-1.

Nationals now 31-64