Nationals fail to reach .500 record after Thursday’s blowout loss to Reds

CINCINNATI — The Nationals had an opportunity Thursday to reach .500 for the first time in May since 2024, and the game ended with outfielder Joey Wiemer on the mound and James Wood and CJ Abrams on the bench after being replaced.

That should tell you how things went for the Nationals in their 15-1 loss to the Reds.

With Foster Griffin, who has emerged as the ace of the pitching staff in the early part of the season, on the mound, Thursday was a great chance for the Nationals to achieve that mark and complete a sweep of Cincinnati.

“Whatever our record is, our job is to go out there and play our best game every day,” manager Blake Buttera said.

But Griffin struggled, and the offense was silenced by electric rookie Chase Burns with six shutout innings in the series finale.

After allowing two runs through the first three innings, Griffin ran into trouble with two outs and a man on, issuing back-to-back two-out walks to load the bases.

Jose Trevino was ready for Griffin’s cutter and pounced for a two-run single to extend the lead to 4-0, and then Ke’Bryan Hayes ambushed a first-pitch sweeper for a two-run double to make it 6-0.

Griffin came out for the fifth and surrendered a double to Elly De La Cruz. Spencer Steer drew a one-out walk to put two runners on, and JJ Bleday hit the first pitch he saw from Griffin into the right field seats to knock the southpaw out of the game.

“Just couldn’t locate my off-speed stuff,” Griffin said. “If it was in the zone, it was in the middle. If it wasn’t in the zone it was a pretty easy take for them.”

It’s the first outing of the year where Griffin failed to complete at least five innings, and his ERA jumped from 2.12 to 3.53 after his start, but neither Griffin nor Butera are too concerned that his rough outing is the signal of a downtrend for Griffin.

“He does a good job of keeping calm and not really showing his emotions too much,” Butera said. “He’s the same guy today that he [was] when he went seven innings [on May 8 against Miami]. He’s a really good pitcher, and we believe in him.”

After stealing Wednesday’s back-and-forth affair, the Nationals were due for a game like this where the bats can’t get going and the pitching struggles.

Griffin said he feels the team is close to stringing together complete performances, but that the club isn’t focused on being above .500, but more about what it represents.

“It’s not just the .500 [record],” center fielder Jacob Young said. “You want to be contending, and to be contending, you got to be at least .500. We’ve been teetering with it, of course, but if we can just catch a little momentum here and win a few in a row, we can forget about that number and go the other way.

‘You always want to pick someone up’

Reliever Richard Lovelady never passes up a chance to celebrate. He screams and shouts expletives after delivering in big moments.

“I don’t hold back any emotions,” Lovelady said Thursday. “These games are too hard not to celebrate your successes.”

Bullpens are notoriously volatile. Performances oscillate from year to year as teams search for the right alchemy. The Nationals seem to have found the right roles for their relievers’ bullpen, particularly after the way Butera handled Jake Irvin’s short start on Wednesday and how deftly he handled the six innings he needed from the bullpen.

Navigating and managing a bullpen is an all-encompassing task as far as knowing when to get guys warmed up, recognizing which players need a rest and utilizing them in optimal situations.

“The biggest difference is bullpen usage, just understanding how to plan that out, when to get guys up,” Butera said of managing in the majors versus the minors. “[In the] minor leagues, the pitching is mostly scripted already, just because of usage and trying to get certain prospects in.”

Entering Thursday, the Nationals’ bullpen had posted a 3.62 ERA over the last two weeks, the 18th-best mark in baseball. While largely unremarkable, it’s solid enough when the offense is among the best in baseball.

Lovelady said that the coaching staff — pitching coach Simon Matthews, assistant pitching coach Sean Doolittle and assistant pitching coach/bullpen coach Dustin Glant — has been good about communicating to the bullpen before each series about how they’re going to attack a particular lineup and what situations they can be expected to be used in.

“You always want to be picking someone up,” Lovelady said, “because there’s gonna be days that you don’t have your best. There’s gonna be days when they don’t have their best.”

Zak Kent optioned to Triple-A Charlotte

After Thursday’s loss, the Nationals optioned right-hander Zak Kent. Kent threw 2 ⅔ innings, allowing two runs on two hits with two strikeouts. The move is more to get a fresh arm in the bullpen ahead of a stretch where the Nationals have 13 consecutive games.