The Nats made too many mental mistakes to count in their 7-6 Saturday afternoon loss to the visiting Giants. Mark & Al examine the puzzling extra inning defeat where there were plenty of examples of terrible fundamentals. The Nationals had poor base running, awful bunting, and overall came nowhere close to playing smart Baseball. Curtis Mead had a shockingly terrible base running mistake in the bottom of the 9th and Jorbit Vivas almost out did him in the 10th.

(13:40) James Wood homered again for the 7th time this season, tied for the 2nd most in the National League.

(17:00) Cade Cavalli had another disappointing outing as he only lasted four innings despite being given an early four-run lead. Cavalli was charged with three runs allowed after yielding seven San Francisco hits. Cavalli has only tossed 19.2 IP in five starts so far this season.

(24:00) Mitchell Parker lasted three innings in relief of Cavalli and gave up three runs in the process. The bullpen the rest of the way did a solid job, including two perfect innings by Richard Lovelady.

(26:30) Miles Mikolas will take the mound on Sunday as Washington looks to avoid getting swept.

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The Nats were easily beaten 10-5 by the Giants on Friday night to open the home stand on a sour note. Al & Mark spend plenty of time on Zack Littell, who gave up six runs before the end of the 2nd inning. Littell wasn't signed until March was well underway and it seems like the late Spring start is still affecting him.

(10:30) Why do valued Free Agent pitchers have to wait until the middle of Spring Training to sign sometimes?

(13:45) Richard Lovelady pitched the 9th right after taking Oscar Ribalta's roster spot. Lovelady walked in a run with the bases loaded for San Francisco's final run. Ribalta notched the save on Thursday in Pittsburgh and was then demoted to AAA on Friday.

(18:05) James Wood crushed an opposite field homer 441 feet late in the contest. Wood is now tied with Abrams for the team lead in homers with six.

(22:00) Daylen Lile hit his 1st homer of the year to bring up his OPS to .691. Lile has not yet tripled this season, after having 11 of them in his rookie year.

(26:30) The Nationals just went 5-2 on the road trip, but only have one home victory.

(28:45) Cade Cavalli will take the mound on Saturday afternoon vs. San Francisco. Cavalli's ERA is 4.60 through four starts this season.

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The Nats split the series in Pittsburgh by emerging with a 8-7 extra-inning win on Thursday afternoon. Mark (From PNC Park) & Al run through the seesaw affair, that was scoreless after four innings of play.

(05:20) The offense scored eight runs despite going 1 for 14 w/ RISP. The Pirates were a big help in that department as they committed four errors, including some terrible defense in the Nationals four-run top of the 5th inning. James Wood's RBI single in the top of the 10th to break the tie was the only RISP to come across the plate.

(10:00) CJ Abrams reached base four times for the second straight day. This time he singled, walked twice, and was hit by a pitch in the victory. Abrams OPS is now up to 1.191, the highest in the National League.

(13:40) Foster Griffin's outing was going well until he allowed four Pittsburgh runs in the bottom of the 5th. Griffin struck out seven hitters on 89 pitches and is currently sporting a 3.05 ERA through four starts.

(16:45) Six relievers were needed to finish out the victory. Colin Beeter blew the save in the 9th, but Oscar Ribalta escaped the 10th inning jam to close it out.

(24:00) Reliever Richard Lovelady was recently acquired off of waivers from the Mets. The lefty has been in the majors since 2019 and has a career ERA of 5.25.

(27:10) Washington went an impressive 5-2 on the road trip. They open up a seven game home stand on Friday night vs. the Giants; with the Braves coming into D.C. on Monday.

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