Rookie pitcher Jefry Rodriguez occupies a cubicle in the Nationals clubhouse in between veterans Greg Holland and Sean Doolittle, who have combined to appear in 734 big league games.
A 25-year-old from the Dominican, Rodriguez — nine games into his career — would be well served to soak up as much knowledge as possible from Holland and Doolittle in the next few weeks.
Rodriguez, making his seventh career start, ran into a roadblock in the fifth inning Sunday afternoon, allowing a three-run homer to Keon Broxton as the Milwaukee Brewers played longball to beat the Nationals 9-4, taking two of three games in the series.
Rodriguez had trouble with his control all afternoon, throwing just 50 strikes in 100 pitches to rookie catcher Spencer Kieboom. Then he gave up a 442-foot homer to Broxton.
“I still had the same mindset: throw the ball down the middle and get ahead,” said Rodriguez, via translator Octavio Martinez.
“I got it pretty good,” Broxton said of the homer. “I would have settled for a single, as long as it gets the run in.”
It the fourth straight weekend the Nationals (68-69) have lost two of three games, with two of those series losses coming to fellow losing teams in the Marlins and Mets.
The Nationals entered the day 7½ games back of first-place Atlanta in the division and the wild-card picture is just as bleak. There were five teams ahead of Washington for the second wild-card spot before Sunday: the Brewers (now 77-61), Arizona, Los Angeles, Colorado and Philadelphia.
So then Rodriguez goes and gives up seven hits, seven runs and seven walks as his ERA rose to 5.58 this season.
“He battled; I want to see him go through struggles,” manager Dave Martinez said of Rodriguez, who pitched in trouble most of the day.
With the Friday trade of veteran lefty Gio Gonzalez to those same Brewers, two other 25-year-old right-handers will get another shot at the highest level.
Erick Fedde will take the place of Gonzalez in the rotation and start Tuesday at home against St. Louis, after ace Max Scherzer throws Monday at 1:05 p.m. at Nationals Park. Fedde has been on the disabled list since July 5 with right shoulder inflammation.
Joe Ross, also 25, pitched a minor league rehab game Saturday for Triple-A Syracuse and should get an opportunity this month. He had Tommy John surgery last year and hasn’t pitched for Washington in 2018.
They will try to fill the void left by Gonzalez, who was eating in the team cafeteria with several of his new teammates after the game. He won 21 games for the Nationals in 2012.
What will it mean to have Gonzalez as part of the Brewers pitching staff?
“Anytime you can stretch out your depth with quality pitching is great,” said Erik Kratz, a Brewers catcher. “He is going to be a huge piece for us. Good teams that are really good add really good pieces (in September). Now we have more of it. His career speaks for itself.”
Gonzalez watched from the third-base dugout as Washington second baseman Wilmer Difo hit a homer Sunday, and Mark Reynolds had a two-run single in the third as the Nationals took a 4-2 lead.
But Broxton went deep against Rodriguez and Christian Yelich, a former star for the Marlins, hit his first career grand slam off Washington reliever Tim Collins as the Brewers scored seven times in the fifth.
Broxton, just up from Triple-A, was hitting seventh in the order.
“He made a bad pitch,” Dave Martinez said of Rodriguez. “It was the bottom of the order. Nobody was really making solid contact.”
Then Yelich got the best of Collins later in the frame.
“I felt he was the guy for that situation,” manager Martinez said of Collins.
“Lefty versus lefty. Just tried to find a way to get it done,” Yelich said.
One of the few bright spots for Washington on Sunday was reliever Austen Williams, who allowed no hits and no runs in two innings in his first big league game.
Williams, also 25, was called up Saturday from Syracuse after he posted an ERA of 1.19 in 32 games (two starts) in the minors this year.
“He did really well,” manager Martinez said.
It certainly won’t be the last time this month a young Nationals pitcher gets an early audition for 2019.
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