Nationals Skipper Wants His Team to Feel Sting of Their 'Worst Loss of the Year'
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The calendar might have changed from Wednesday to Thursday, but it's still hard to fathom exactly what happened to the Washington Nationals in their finale against the San Francisco Giants.
Up 9-1 entering the bottom of the eighth inning, it looked like the Nationals were going to cruise to a sweep over their NL West foes and depart their six-game road trip with wins in five of them. But by the time Washington walked off the field, they had melted down in a historic way, as their loss was the first time in franchise history that they had given up an eight-run lead in the eighth inning or later.
Blake Butera Wants His Team to Feel Pain From That Loss
"I told them this one should sting," manager Blake Butera said, per MLB.com. "This will probably be our worst loss of the year. It's one of the worst losses I've been a part of."
It would be difficult for anyone to have been part of a worse loss than what transpired at Oracle Park. The Giants have had a lifeless offense all season long, and while the Nationals' bullpen has had its share of blowups this year, it seemed almost impossible for them to give this one away.
But when San Francisco hit back-to-back home runs to start their half of the eighth inning, that created momentum that snowballed into something unforeseen. And when Bryce Eldridge stepped up to the plate in the bottom of the ninth inning needing a grand slam to win the game for his team, it almost felt inevitable that was going to happen.
Paxton Schultz, the right-handed reliever who was on the mound for the start of that avalanche, took full responsibility for what occurred. And it's safe to say that he's taking his manager's words to heart about letting this one sting.
"I did a terrible job there, and I'm gonna take full responsibility," he said. "It's my job to go back, look at this, find what I need to do right, and never let this happen again."
Nationals Players Ready to Flush This One and Move On
Washington's players seem to have heeded the advice of their skipper. However, they are also going to put this one in the rearview and get ready for what's in front of them.
"We're just going to flush it, but we'll let it sting here for a little bit," Wednesday's starting pitcher Foster Griffin said. "Once we get on the plane, it's over with, it's done with. We got a new series coming with Seattle and Kansas City, and we'll just move forward to Nats Park."
Whether they can do that will be determined in the coming days. The Nationals will play the surging Seattle Mariners next before welcoming in a Kansas City Royals group that is desperate to turn their season around.
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Brad Wakai graduated from Penn State University with a degree in Journalism. While an undergrad, he worked at the student radio station covering different Penn State athletic programs like football, basketball, volleyball, soccer and other sports. Brad became the Lead Contributor for Nittany Lions Wire of Gannett Media where he continued to cover Penn State athletics. Currently, Brad is the Publisher for Washington Nationals On SI and covers multiple teams across the On SI network. He is the host of the sports podcast I Said What I Said, where he and his co-host discuss topics across the NFL, College Football, the NBA and other sports. You can follow him on Twitter: @bwakai