Yankees Strike Back in the 8th

The Nats coughed up another lead on Saturday due to the continued ineptitude of the bullpen. Mark & Al dig into the 4-2 loss to the visiting Yankees that served as the team's 27th blown save this season.  Washington led 2-0 entering the top of the 8th, but three Yankee homers later they trailed by two runs entering the bottom of the frame. (07:00) The Nationals are now back at .500 after dropping these two games vs. New York.  What would the record be with a halfway decent bullpen? (10:30) Blake Butera went with righty relievers this time against the lefty Yankee lineup and it not work out at all.  Orlando Ribalta and Clayton Beeter combined to allow four decisive runs in the 8th. (22:00) PJ Poulin served as the Opener and pitched into the top of the 2nd.  Miles Mikolas then took over and tossed four shutout innings.  Mikolas' appeal has been heard and he will begin his five game suspension on Sunday afternoon. (25:00) The offense slugged a pair of homers off of CY Young candidate Cam Schlittler.  James Wood homered on the first pitch he saw and Curtis Mead also went deep early in the affair.  Wood is now up to 27 homers on the year and nine of them have come in the lead-off spot. (29:00) Sunday is the final game before the All-Star Break and it also will decide which side of .500 the Nats find themselves. Cade Cavalli is expected to take the mound fresh off of serving a five game suspension. (31:00) Foster Griffin was a late addition to the NL Roster on Saturday evening.  Griffin's recognition is well deserved as his ERA is sub 3.00. (33:30) Learn about Chris Hacopian, who the Nats selected at #11 overall from Texas A&M.  Hacopian grew up locally as a diehard Nationals fan before playing at Winston Churchill High School in Potomac, MD. (36:00) Checking in on last year's #1 pick Eli Willits.  He is currently in High-A Wilmington and is the 3rd ranked Prospect in the MLB Pipeline.  Willits is still only 18 year old and his stated goal is to be in the Big Leagues by the age of 20.  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.