If any Washington Nationals fan had deja vu on Wednesday night, it's not hard to see why.
Exactly one day after the Nationals were a strike away from beating the Philadelphia Phillies before there was a ninth-inning implosion , Washington faced that situation once again. Orlando Ribalta was on the mound facing a pinch-hitting Kyle Schwarber after he got the first two outs of the frame. Then, following a 10-pitch battle where Schwarber faced seven two-strike counts, Ribalta missed the zone and walked the star slugger.
Manager Blake Butera came out of the dugout and motioned to the bullpen for his secondary option. That wasn't a big surprise since the skipper has taken that approach all year, but it turned out to be a disastrous one this time around. The Phillies called upon right-handed batter Derek Hill to combat left-handed pitcher Richard Lovelady , and Hill hit a two-run homer that put Philadelphia up and allowed them to win the game.
Washington Nationals pitcher Orlando Ribalta | Anna Carrington-Imagn Images
It's easy to play Monday Morning Quarterback regarding the decision to pull Ribalta in favor of Lovelady. Instead of keeping Ribalta in to face rookie Justin Crawford, a player with two home runs on the season and slugging percentage below .350, Butera gave the Phillies a chance to call upon Hill, a veteran who has a little more pop with four homers coming into Wednesday's contest. And that choice ultimately backfired, which now makes it seem like Butera overthought the situation.
However, it seems like Butera was worried the workload of Ribalta and that it could result in a possible injury if he had kept the right-hander out there to face another batter.
"Part of it is not overextending Ribalta," Butera said, per Jessica Camerato of MLB.com , while he also noted the past injuries his reliever has dealt with. "... He obviously gave it everything he had for those three hitters, a long at-bat with Schwarber there. He emptied the tank on Schwarber."
Butera later added that he liked the matchup of Lovelady coming into the game to potentially face Hill more than he liked leaving Ribalta out there to face Crawford, so it seems like the injury angle isn't the only thing that swayed his decision. But it's still notable that the long-term health of Ribalta played a factor in this ruling. Ultimately, it's up to the fans whether they want to buy those comments or not. Ribalta was sitting on 23 pitches thrown after facing Schwarber, which is a number he's exceeded in four out of his previous 23 appearances this season.
Regardless, the Nationals squandered another opportunity to win a game against their division rivals. And after being a strike away from winning the first three games of this series, they enter the finale needing to win to salvage a split.
This article was originally published on www.si.com/mlb/nationals/onsi as Nationals Skipper Explains Why He Pulled Orlando Ribalta in Ninth Inning .
