Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo has admitted that rushing starting pitcher Yunesky Maya to the big leagues last September was a mistake.
The 29-year-old Cuban defected from his home country only 12 months before, leaving his family behind, and wasn’t ready for major-league competition, often laboring through six starts following a brief tutorial in the minor leagues.
Maya finally made his return on Sunday afternoon at Nationals Park. And after a fast start it was clear the familiar issues of 2010 – too many hits and walks allowed, inefficient use of his pitches – came with along him. By the time the Nats had dropped the game and the series to the San Diego Padres – a 5-4 loss – Maya was long gone.
| Nats notes |
| » Infielder Jerry Hairston has been fined an undisclosed amount and suspended one game by Major League Baseball for his aggressive actions towards umpire Ed Hickox during Friday night’s win over San Diego. |
| » Hairston felt he was “quick-pitched” by Padres pitcher — and former teammate — Clayton Richard and upset he was not granted timeout during an at-bat. Instead, he jumped back in the batter’s box and flew out to center on that pitch — sparking an animated argument with Hickox. Hairston is appealing the suspension and started at third base on Sunday. |
| » With a fourth-inning double, Michael Morse has hit in seven straight games. Morse’s hit streak matches the club’s longest this season. Teammate Laynce Nix hit safely in seven consecutive games from May 8 to 15. |
| » Nats outfielder Jayson Werth was 3-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored. |
| » Washington successfully stole two bases – Roger Bernadina and Rick Ankiel – and its team stolen base percentage is now 75.4 percent. |
“I felt very good the first couple innings,” Maya said through his interpreter, assistant clubhouse manager Javier Castro. “Then I wasn’t hitting my spots in [the fourth and fifth] and that opened the floodgates.”
Not an uncommon occurrence during those six starts in 2010 when Maya averaged 17 pitches per inning and only once completed six innings. He said Sunday that he’d wanted to work at a faster clip – and did so early. But then the heat and humidity of a late spring afternoon took their toll. Maya would step off the mound for a quick breather, but couldn’t find his previous form.
He cruised through three innings with just one base runner allowed on 38 pitches, but ran into trouble in the fourth. Three hits led to a San Diego run. Then in the fifth Maya fell apart, walking two batters and giving up a two-run single to Brad Hawpe. He needed 52 pitches to get through that final 1 2/3 innings and was charged with four runs on six hits in 4 2/3 innings with three strikeouts.
But this loss was far from his fault alone. Washington (22-30) had plenty of chances to build on an early lead. But the Nats finished the day an ugly 3-for-13 with runners in scoring position, botching golden opportunities to break a 4-4 tie in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings. In each frame they had runners at first and second – twice with no outs and once with one out. But they couldn’t score. That, too, is a familiar problem and left several players seething with frustration.
“This isn’t going to cut it,” shortstop Ian Desmond said. “We had Maya coming up and pitching his butt off… and we can’t get a “W” right there? That’s unbelievable. We’ve got to do something different.”
San Diego (22-31) finally broke the deadlock in the top of the ninth off closer Drew Storen. A one-out double by Jorge Cantu and an infield single by Ryan Ludwick pushed the eventual winning run across. That play seemed to sum up Washington’s day – and maybe its season. Desmond made a valiant effort to knock the ball down as it threaded its way towards center field. But in so doing he knocked it just far enough away from himself and second baseman Danny Espinosa to give the aggressive Cantu a chance to race home, sliding in just ahead of catcher Wilson Ramos’ tag.
That left the Nats lamenting their missed chances – again. There was the ball that bounced away from San Diego catcher Kyle Phillips in the sixth inning only to hit the home-plate umpire Brian O’Nora. Michael Morse strayed off second and teammate Jerry Hairston thought he was running. Instead, Hairston was picked off when Morse decided to stay at his base. Later, struggling pinch hitter Matt Stairs (.091 batting average) smacked a ball to right with runners at first and second in the eighth inning. But it was lined directly at right fielder Chris Denorfia. The breaks of the game? Not to a team that has now lost 12 of its last 16 with a series against star pitchers Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Roy Oswalt and the Philadelphia Phillies looming. Not to a team that is now 5-11 in one-run games.
“It’s not about breaks. It’s about playing the game the right way,” Desmond said. “I don’t know. I honestly don’t know. It’s not luck. We’re not unlucky. We have runners in scoring position and we can’t score them. It starts with me. I’ve left runners out there. I’ve been leaving runners out there. I’ve got to do something different. We all got to do something different.”
