John Lannan did not wait for a visit from the trainer. He did not need a medical expert to tell him something was seriously wrong. The blood dripping from his nose said it all.
Cruising through the early innings of Friday’s game against the Colorado Rockies, Lannan couldn’t get his glove up in time to stop a hard hit through the middle by Ty Wigginton in the top of the fourth. The ball smashed off his face and bounded into center field, driving in a run and sending Lannan racing to the clubhouse.
In the end, the left-handed starting pitcher was diagnosed with a nasal contusion and listed as day-to-day. That was the good news. The bad? That three-run inning by Colorado proved the difference in a 3-2 victory over Washington at Nationals Park.
“It’s a manager’s worst nightmare,” Davey Johnson said of the ball hitting his pitcher in the head.
Lannan underwent x-rays at the stadium that were negative and may not even miss his next start after the All-Star break next week. He was taken to a local hospital for evaluation and not available for comment afterwards. But the play changed the tenor of the game. A balk by reliever Ryan Mattheus – who had taken over for the injured Lannan – brought home another run in that fourth inning. And then rookie Cole Garner drove in another with his first major-league hit.
“It is tough coming out of the bullpen that way,” said Mattheus, who admitted he flinched on the balk call. Pitching coach Steve McCatty even called the balk from the dugout before the umpire did. “But for a pitcher, once you’re loose, once you’re ready to go you really have to focus.”
That outburst was too much for the Nats, who managed just one run in the first inning despite loading the bases with none out vs. Rockies starter Jason Hammel. Only five runners reached base after that frame, including a solo home run by Wilson Ramos in the fourth inning. Hammel lasted 6 1/3 innings with two runs, five hits and two walks allowed.
Ryan Zimmerman hit a ball to the warning track in deep right field in the bottom of the eighth before it died in Garner’s glove. Colorado closer Huston Street gave up a leadoff bloop single to Michael Morse in the bottom of the ninth. But Jayson Werth struck out and pinch runner Brian Bixler was thrown out at second attempting to advance as the ball bounced away from home plate. That double play killed the rally and Rick Ankiel struck out to end it.
The Nats dropped back to .500 at 45-45 with two games left before the All-Star break. After going 13-3 in one-run games since June 1 Washington has now dropped two in a row. Jason Marquis (7-3, 4.11 ERA) will face Ubaldo Jimenez (3-8, 4.39 ERA) on Saturday night. The Nats scored just two runs off Jimenez in 15 1/3 innings against him in 2010. But they need a rebound win to keep up the momentum they’ve built during this surprising first half.
“We have two games left [this weekend]. It’s not all about sweeping every series,” said second baseman Danny Espinosa. “It’s about winning every series and we still have a chance to do that. That would get us going into the second half on the right note.”
