Before his first major league start on Tuesday night at Nationals Park, Washington Nationals right-hander Blake Treinen walked into Manager Matt Williams’s office and thanked him for the opportunity. Before this season, Treinen had never pitched above Class AA. On Tuesday, he was recalled Class AAA Syracuse to face two-time Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw and the star-studded Los Angeles Dodgers.
“I’ll give you what I got today,” Treinen told Williams.
For five innings, the hard-throwing 25-year-old from Kansas matched zeroes with the best pitcher in baseball. In the sixth, the big right-hander and the Nationals unraveled in familiar fashion in an 8-3 loss to the Dodgers.
Treinen opened the inning by misplaying a groundball from Kershaw. Adam LaRoche followed that with a bobble on a grounder from Dee Gordon. Two singles later, only one solidly hit, and the Dodgers had a lead. They added to it in the seventh and eighth innings and Kershaw, in his first start in more than a month after going on the disabled list with a strained muscle in his back, made it stand up.
The rate of the Nationals’ defensive miscues has slowed in the past week or so, but they have still committed 29 errors in 33 games — including two more Tuesday — and have allowed a major league-leading 26 unearned runs.
Treinen faced a tall task, but the Nationals were doomed by their defense and inability to capitalize on the few opportunities created against Kershaw. The first two Nationals batters of the fourth inning — Anthony Rendon and Jayson Werth — singled, but Kershaw quickly erased that threat.
The Nationals put together three singles in the sixth — but Rendon was picked off and Kershaw fanned Scott Hairston and Ian Desmond to work out of the jam.
Ross Detwiler, the other option to start Tuesday, pitched the eighth inning, his first action in six days. The rust showed: Hanley Ramirez led the inning off with a home run to center. Drew Butera then added a three-run shot to left to make it 8-0.
Jayson Werth and Jose Lobaton singled in runs in the bottom of the inning, but by then the game was out of reach.
The 6-foot-5, 215-pound Treinen, part of the Michael Morse trade before the 2013 season, impressed the Nationals in spring training and earned a call-up in April to pitch out of the bullpen. He continued to dazzle, allowing just one run over 62/ 3 innings before being returned to Syracuse, where the club opted to stretch him out as a starter.
For days leading up to Tuesday’s game, the Nationals were publicly coy about who would start the game. Detwiler and Treinen were the two most likely candidates, and Treinen was limited over the past week just in case. Even on Monday night, Williams knew privately the Nationals would call up Treinen.
At 7:04 p.m., Treinen jogged out to a major league mound for his first big league start. He shook hands with a child who was standing at the mound as part of the pregame ceremonies. Treinen etched a “K” and “C,” with a cross in between the letters, behind the pitching rubber. The initials stood for Kim Cousin, Treinen’s aunt who passed away Monday night.
His first pitch, a 98-mph fastball, was in for a strike. In a playoff game with Class AA Harrisburg last season, a scout once clocked Treinen at 101 mph. Against the Dodgers, Treinen’s adrenaline was flowing, and of the 10 pitches he threw in the first inning, only one was below 95 mph.
In addition to velocity, Treinen’s pitches have sink to them and he has sharp command. He breezed through the Dodgers’ order the first time. He didn’t throw anything besides a fastball until his 19th pitch.
He cruised into the sixth, when Kershaw opened the inning with a soft chopper up the middle that Treinen whiffed at fielding cleanly. His recovery and throw to first base was too late. Gordon then hit a groundball to LaRoche, who bobbled the ball and was unable to get to first in time. Carl Crawford then loaded the bases with a dribbler down the first base line that was far enough out of reach for Lobaton to get him safely to first.
The bases were loaded on three balls that perhaps went a combined 200 feet. Ramirez then singled on the first pitch he saw and the Dodgers took a 1-0 lead. With his workload limited, Williams took Treinen out of the game at 72 pitches. Craig Stammen emerged from the dugout and the Dodgers scored two runs on a fielder’s choice and a soft single to left.
The damage was done.