Nats Drop Third Straight, 9-4, to Astros

The only thing worse than the announcers in the booth was the play on the field as the Astros blasted the Nats, 9-4 this afternoon.

The Nats committed three errors, gave up two homers, and walked five in the loss. The loss went to Trevor William who “worked on some stuff” and looked every bit the part of someone making just his second start of the spring. He retired just nine of 19 batters faced, giving up five runs on eight hits – including two HR.

Despite the split-squad roster, James Wood was the only watchlister in the starting lineup. Unfortunately his error was the third of the game, turning a triple into Little League HR. At the plate, he extended his hitless streak to 10 straight at-bats with an 0-for-3.

Five watchlisters came off the bench and one appeared in relief:

• Darren Baker replaced Luis García Jr. at second base in the 5th and went 1-for-2 with a steal and a run scored and (*gasp*) no errors
• Andrew Pinckney subbed for Alex Call in LF and was 1-for-3 with an RBI and two whiffs
• Elijah Green was the third CF of the afternoon and went 0-for-2 and didn’t strike out once
• T.J. White replaced Juan Yepez at 1B and was 0-for-1 with a strikeout
• Nathaniel Ochoa Leyva subbed from Nasim Nuñez at shortstop in the 7th and grounded out in the 9th
• Cole Henry let in one run out of seven baserunners, with three hits and four walks allowed and two strikeouts over an innning and 2/3rds

The Nats will be back at it tonight against the Marlins. Zach Davies is expected to start. The game can be heard on MLB Radio (Marlins feed).