Washington Nationals: Jeremy Guthrie’s No Good, Very Bad Day

Washington Nationals right-hander Jeremy Guthrie has probably had better birthdays than yesterday’s 10-run dismantling at the hands of the Phillies.

Bronson Arroyo wasn’t the only veteran pitcher making his first big league start in over a year yesterday. Jeremy Guthrie got the nod from the Washington Nationals on Saturday as they pushed Stephen Strasburg back for an extra day of rest. Guthrie last appeared in an MLB contest for the Kansas City Royals on September 26, 2015.

With 23-year-old Joe Ross ineligible to be called up from Triple-A until April 12, Guthrie – who signed a minor league deal with the Nats in February – was the leading candidate to take the ball for the spot start. After all, he impressed in spring training, posting a 2.41 ERA over 18.2 innings. To top it all off, it was his 38th birthday. What could be more perfect than that?

Guthrie’s opponent, the Philadelphia Phillies, didn’t waste any time in spoiling his party. Cesar Hernandez led off the bottom of the first inning at Citizens Bank Park with a double. Howie Kendrick followed up with a single to move Hernandez to third, and promptly stole second. Guthrie then walked Odubel Herrera, quickly putting himself into a bases-loaded, no-outs situation.

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Maikel Franco popped a sacrifice fly to push across the first run. Maybe Guthrie would begin to settle down with an out under his belt? Eh, not so much. Michael Saunders and Tommy Joseph hit back-to-back singles to plate two more runs. Guthrie walked Cameron Rupp and surrendered another sacrifice fly to Freddy Galvis, moving the score to 4-0. Just one more out… and the pitcher’s up next!

Of course, the damage didn’t end there. Guthrie walked Aaron Nola to load the bases again and turn the lineup over. Hernandez drew a walk in his second at-bat of the frame to force home another run. Kendrick then delivered the inning’s big blow by belting a triple to deep right-center, clearing the bases and bringing the Phillies’ run total to eight. Herrera reached on an infield single to score one more, and Guthrie’s evening was finally, mercifully over.

Enny Romero came on in relief and served up a double to Franco, driving in Herrera from first and adding the last earned run to Guthrie’s ledger. His final line: 0.2 IP, 6 H, 10 R, 4 BB, 0 K.

If you were to just glance at those numbers without context, you’d think the pitcher in question was absolutely shelled and probably gave up at least one home run somewhere along the way. With the exception of Kendrick’s three-run triple, the Phillies’ dissection of Guthrie was more of a “death by a thousand cuts” variety. Of the six hits the right-hander surrendered, four were singles. Two runs scored on sacrifice flies and another on a walk.

All together, it added up to 10 earned runs in just two-thirds of an inning. Life, as they say, comes at you fast. The Phils would go on to score 12 in the first inning, a new franchise record, en route to a 17-3 drubbing of a victory.

To get an idea of the sheer magnitude of Guthrie’s meltdown, check out this crazy stat from CSN Philly’s Corey Seidman:

Guthrie has pitched in 306 games and nearly 1,800 innings in his major league career, and yesterday’s debacle moved the needle that much on his lifetime ERA. Ouch.

You have to feel for the guy, though. He stood out there and took the beating. After the game, he tweeted his disappointment in letting the club down, urging his teammates to take the series’ rubber game on Sunday. Unfortunately, he won’t get another chance to take the hill for the Nationals, as the team announced this morning that it has designated him for assignment.

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Nightmare outings like Guthrie’s remind us of just how harrowing the life of an MLB pitcher can be. You’re effectively on an island out there on the mound. There’s nowhere to hide when things go wrong. You either dig deep and figure things out on your own, or get swept away in the storm. Sometimes you dig deep and still don’t find the answers. It was simply one of those nights for Jeremy Guthrie, and even after 13 years it’s a bitter pill to swallow.