WASHINGTON — The trend the Cardinals are trying to stem by trading for at least one reinforcement is the one that continues to tax the bullpen.
As the innings mount for relievers, ruptures happen.
Cardinals starter Dakota Hudson made his return to the rotation but left almost half of the game for the bullpen to hold. The lead the relievers inherited vanished in the flash of Josh Bell’s bat, and the Cardinals’ late rally was not enough to overcome that, losing, 7-6, on Saturday night at Nationals Park. Five of the seven runs Washington scored came against the bullpen, four against lefties Packy Naughton and Genesis Cabrera.
Each of them was brought into the middle of an inning to cover outs that another pitcher could not, and in each case the inherited run scored.
Cabrera entered with a runner on first after a hit batter in the seventh inning and a one-run lead to hold. He walked outfielder Juan Soto, who reached base three times. The next batter, switch-hitter Bell, connected on a change-up that erased the Cardinals’ lead and had them playing catchup the rest of the game. Nelson Cruz had put Washington within reach two innings earlier with a two-run double off Naughton. The lefty was in the game to face the right-handed hitting veteran when Hudson came two outs shy of completing the fifth — and the snowball started to roll.
