Nats battery takes beating as Cavalli hit hard, Millas breaks finger

NEW YORK – It was not pretty watching the Nationals get thumped by the Yankees, 11-2, at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday afternoon.

Washington fell behind the eight ball starting in the first inning when right-hander Cade Cavalli allowed a leadoff homer to Trent Grisham. But it was the third inning when New York delivered the knockout punch. New York scored nine runs during that frame with Cavalli throwing 36 pitches before left-hander Shinnosuke Ogasawara entered the game and threw 41 additional pitches.

In total, the half-inning featured 77 pitches, the second-most by a team in a frame since at least 2000, per MLB.com’s Sarah Langs. The Marlins threw 91 on June 27, 2003, in the first inning at Fenway Park.

“[The Yankees] are a really good team. They can hit, and if you make a mistake, they make you pay,” Nationals manager Miguel Cairo said. “We just got beat. It’s as simple as that. … You have to tip your cap to that team.”

Cavalli had his worst outing this season, allowing eight runs (seven earned) in 2 1/3 innings. He noticed the Yankees were not swinging out of the strike zone.

“I have to go inside a little more. I didn’t do that a lot today and they were getting pretty comfortable on the outer half of the plate,” Cavalli said. “They adjusted to me living on the outer half. I have to make an adjustment. Get them off the plate [and] get them [uncomfortable].”

But that wasn’t the worst of it that inning. Catcher Drew Millas had to leave the game after suffering a fracture and dislocation of his left second finger.

Millas hurt the finger when he was called for catcher’s interference after Austin Wells’ swing hit Millas’ glove. Cairo and head athletic trainer Paul Lessard looked at Millas’ hand and decided to take him out of the game.

“We had a pitch up and away that [Wells] whiffed. Unfortunately, [the bat] hit Millie in the glove. It hit him hard. I just hope that he is going to be OK,” Cavalli said. “He means a lot. We have a great relationship – on and off the field. He is a great human. I have a lot of respect for him. I hope that he is OK.”

Millas was having a good season for Washington, hitting .306 (15-for-49) with seven RBIs in 18 games. The Nationals did not say how long Millas will be out of commission.

“I feel bad for him. … He was really hitting well and catching well. It’s bad news,” Cairo said.

Millas’ departure meant the Nationals had to lose their designated hitter because Riley Adams, who was the DH, had to work behind the plate. This meant the pitcher would have to hit, which occurred in the fifth inning when Ogasawara took his first at-bat in the Major Leagues and struck out on three pitches.

Cairo avoided using outfielder Daylen Lile as a pinch-hitter because Lile was under the weather. If Adams hadn’t already been DHing, Cairo could have saved Adams for the late innings, but he wanted the right-handed-hitting Adams to face Yankees left-hander Max Fried, who pitched seven solid innings and allowed one run on four hits. Cairo did use switch-hitter Josh Bell as a pinch-hitter later in the game.

“Riley has been swinging the bat,” Cairo said. “I wanted a right-handed hitter against Fried. Sometimes, it’s like that. I cannot predict the future, but I wanted a right-hander that has been good in the lineup.”

The Nationals have now lost five consecutive games. It’s their fifth losing streak of five-plus games this season, which is the second-most behind the Rockies (nine).

But despite this latest skid, don’t tell Cairo that his team has hit rock bottom.

“Rock bottom? … Just because we lost to the Yankees, doesn’t mean we have hit rock bottom,” Cairo said. “We have a pretty good team. They have been playing their butts off. It’s not rock bottom here.”