Washington Nationals drop long, 10-6 opener to Oakland Athletics: Erick Fedde out early in D.C.

It was not Erick Fedde’s night. A’s 10-6 over Nationals…

Fedde vs the A’s:

Erick Fedde returned from close to a month on the IL with right shoulder inflammation to go five innings against the Seattle Mariners last week in T-Mobile Park, giving up three hits and two runs in a 81-pitch outing in which he struck out six of the 19 batters he faced. Nationals’ manager Davey Martinez talked after the game about limiting the 29-year-old righty after he spent so much time on the Injured List.

“We had him penciled in for about 80-85 pitches, so he threw the ball well. We talked after he came out and he said he felt great,” Martinez told reporters.

Fedde lamented the fact that he gave up one home run among his three hits, and said he was otherwise happy with the outing.

“Overall, I couldn’t be happier with where I am with my stuff,” Fedde said, as quoted by MASN’s Mark Zuckerman.

“Good improvement. I’m glad I took the time to get healthy and slowly get back. … I feel like that’s the guy I haven’t been able to be all year.”

In his second start back tonight, Fedde fell behind early, giving up a leadoff double by A’s leadoff man Tony Kemp, who scored one out later on an RBI single by Sean Murphy, 1-0 in the opening frame for Oakland in D.C.

Murphy went first-to-third on a single by Stephen Vogt, but was stranded there at the end of a 34-pitch first for Fedde.

Given a 2-1 lead to work with after one, Fedde left a sinker up and in to the first batter in the top of the second, Jonah Bride, who doubled to left for the fourth hit for the A’s, but he was stranded three outs (and a two-out walk) later.

Fedde’s 19-pitch second left him at 53 after two, however.

He was up to 75 with two out in the third after giving up a leadoff single, one-out, two-run home run, and back-to-back, two-out hits, and after a mound visit from Jim Hickey, a liner out to right by Nick Allen tied things up at 4-4. That was it for the Nationals’ starter…

Erick Fedde’s Line: 2.2 IP, 9 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 1 BB, 4 Ks, 1 HR, 76 P, 46 S, 2/1 GO/FO.

Irvin, Cole Irvin:

Purchased in late January 2021 from the Philadelphia Phillies who drafted him in the 5th Round in 2016, lefty Cole Irvin, 28, posted a 4.24 ERA, a 4.30 FIP, 42 walks, 125 Ks, and a .275/.322/.424 line against in 32 starts and 178 ¹⁄₃ IP last season.

Going into tonight’s outing, the left-hander had a 3.16 ERA, a 3.89 FIP, 26 walks, 98 Ks, and a .227/.265/.376 line against in 23 starts and 142 ¹⁄₃ IP on the year in his second season with the A’s, and he was coming off seven scoreless against the Miami Marlins in which he gave up just three hits and piled a total of 11 Ks up (from 24 batters faced), for a new career high in strikeouts.

Irvin took the mound with a 1-0 lead courtesy of an RBI single by Sean Murphy in the top of the first, but the A’s starter gave it right back, two pitches in, with Lane Thomas hitting an 0-1 fastball to left-center, for a 422-foot, game-tying home run. No. 14 for Thomas in 2022.

Joey Meneses doubled in the next at-bat, took third on a Luke Voit fly to right field, and then scored on a sac fly to right by Nelson Cruz, 2-1 Nationals.

Victor Robles singled, CJ Abrams reached via HBP, and Lane Thomas singled with one out in the Nats’ second, with Robles scoring on Thomas’s second hit, 3-1.

Joey Meneses’s second hit, and second two-base hit, an RBI double to right, drove Abrams in for a 4-1 Nationals’ lead after two.

It was 6-4 A’s after a 5-run top of the third, and Irvin retired the Nats in order in the home-half of the inning, but a two-out walk to Thomas in the fourth, and the third double tonight by Joey Meneses made it a one-run game after four, 6-5 A’s. Irvin was up to 89 pitches after a long, 31-pitch fourth.

It was 10-5 in the fifth, when Irvin worked around a leadoff HBP in a 13-pitch frame which left him at 102 total.

He returned in the bottom of the sixth and was lifted after a one-out single by CJ Abrams…

Cole Irvin’s Line: 5.1 IP, 9 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 1 BB, 6 Ks, 1 HR, 105 P, 74 S, 2/5 GO/FO.

Bullpen Action:

Hunter Harvey took over with two on and two out in the A’s third, in a 4-4 game, and gave up a two-run double to right field by Tony Kemp, 6-4, and Kemp took third on the throw in from right field, but was stranded there.

Harvey worked around a two-out walk in a 19-pitch fourth to keep it a 6-4 game in the A’s favor.

It was 6-5 in the top of the fifth, when Steve Cishek took over for the home team and got two outs around a one-out walk. But a two-out single and walk off the side-winding righty drew his pitching coach out for a chat, and Sean Murphy stepped in with the bases full of A’s and hit a grand slam to left-center field, 10-5 Athletics.

Erasmo Ramírez got the ball in the sixth, and worked around a two-out walk for a scoreless frame.

Austin Pruitt took over for the A’s with a runner on first and one out in the Nats’ sixth, and the right-hander stranded the runner he inherited.

Ramírez completed a second scoreless inning of work in the seventh, and Pruitt came back for a scoreless bottom of the inning.

Victor Arano retired the A’s in order in the top of the eighth, and Luis García led off in the bottom of the inning with his 5th home run of 2022, a 385-foot, opposite field shot off of Pruitt, 10-6.

Nationals now 43-86