The Nationals got exactly the kind of split they were hoping to avoid Saturday night in New York.
With Brad Lord unable to get through the first inning and the bullpen asked to cover at least 7 1/3 innings, Washington leaned on two Trade Deadline additions in very different spots. Left-hander Will Dion handled the heavy lifting. Right-hander Yovanny Cruz was tasked with finishing it.
One thrived. The other unraveled.
“I think it’s two different examples,” manager Blake Butera said after the Nationals’ 5-4 loss. “I think Will’s jumped right in and has gotten off to a great start. I think Yovanny’s still trying to find his footing a little bit.”
Dion was outstanding in long relief, throwing 4 1/3 hitless, scoreless innings while striking out a career-high seven and walking only one. Butera called him “the MVP of the game,” and the outing landed Dion in some notable team company: he tied a Nationals record for the second-most strikeouts by a reliever in the franchise’s 2005-present history, trailing only Cory Abbott’s eight on Sept.
21, 2023. He also became the first Washington reliever to throw at least 4 1/3 hitless innings since Jefry Rodriguez on Sept.
15, 2018.
“Will Dion pitched his [butt] off for us,” said Butera. “...
To be able to do what he did, it was outstanding. I couldn’t have been happier.
He gave us a chance to win that game, and it’s not easy to do that when your starter’s not able to get through the first inning.”
Dion, acquired from the Guardians in the Foster Griffin deal, has looked comfortable immediately. He told the Nationals he is built up to 70 pitches, and he’s already shown he can work as a true multi-inning weapon.
In his previous outing Aug. 9 against the Reds, he tossed three scoreless innings to pick up his first big league win. Through his first three appearances with Washington, he still hasn’t allowed a run.
“This is a tough level,” said Dion. “These hitters across the league, they can bang. Seeing my stuff play, it helps me a lot.”
Cruz’s night went the other direction almost as soon as it started.
After Orlando Ribalta and Clayton Beeter handed him the ninth with a 4-3 lead, Cruz opened by walking Brett Baty on five pitches. Two of those fastballs were badly located, and his confidence in the four-seamer never really returned.
Cruz said the command issue has been there in his last two outings, so he leaned almost entirely on sliders from there, with one splitter mixed in. The inning still turned ugly: single, game-tying double, strikeout, then a walk-off single to Francisco Lindor.
“Since I threw the first fastball, I didn't feel comfortable with it,” Cruz said via interpreter Mauricio Ortiz. “That's why I immediately made the switch to the slider. I thought that was going to do the job, but it didn't."
The Nationals want Cruz in the biggest spots, ninth inning included, but the early returns have been rough. In his first five games with Washington, he is 0-1 with a 15.00 ERA and two blown saves. That’s a sharp contrast from his work with the Yankees, where he posted a 1.69 ERA in four major league appearances this season and a 3.53 ERA in 31 games at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
For Butera, the challenge now is helping Cruz settle in.
“The big thing is confidence,” said Butera. “It’s hard coming over to a new team where you don’t really know a ton of people, and it’s a little bit easier when you jump into this and have success right away.
We’ve got to help Yovanny. That’s up to us as a staff to get him right.”
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