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Nats Fall to the Twins, 5-2

Minnesota jumped on starter A.J Cole for four runs in the 2nd and cruised to a 5-2 win over Washington.

Cole faced 10 batters but retired just five of them, giving up four runs on four hits and a walk while striking out two (both looking) over an inning and two-thirds.

Offensively, the Nats were a woeful 0-for-11 with RISP and managed just five hits total. Eleven men were stranded on the basepaths.

Here’s a rundown on how the watchlist players performed:
• Erick Fedde was easily the most effective pitcher of the game, with six and up and six down and two whiffs over two innings (5th & 6th).
• Austin Voth pitched around a leadoff single during a scoreless 8th innings.
• Matt Skole was the starting DH but was 0-for-2 with a K.
• Brian Goodwin started in RF and was also 0-for-2 with a K.
• Andrew Stevenson pinch-hit for CF Michael Taylor and drove in the second DC run with an RBI groundout in the 9th. He was 0-for-3.
• Drew Ward was the second DH and went 0-for-2 with a K.
• Rafael Bautista subbed for Goodwin in RF and scored the second run after a leading off the 9th with a single, taking third on a subsequent safety by Emmmanuel Burriss, and scoring on Stevenson’s groundout. He finished 1-for-2

The Nats complete their three-game road trip to start the 2017 Spring Training with a visit to Jupiter to face the Cardinals. The game will be broadcast on MLB Radio (St. Louis feed).

5 Commments

    1. I think it will depend on the health of the rotation. Ideally, the Nats would love to get through the season with their current 5, fill in with Cole or Voth, and not have to add Fedde to the 40-man roster, potentially burn an option and start his service time clock.

      That said, expecting all five starters to stay healthy, especially Strasburg and Ross, is a tall order. So yeah, I’d place the chances at better than 50/50.

  2. I checked the stats on Cole at BR, and depressingly realized that in his final five starts last year he posted a godawful ERA of 6.41. Assuming Voth continues to pitch well this spring, you have to think that he’ll pass up Cole as the 6th starter on the depth chart.

    1. Voth was considerably better than Cole at Syracuse last year as well. The pecking order that got Cole promoted wasn’t clear, other than that he was on the 40-man and Voth wasn’t.

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