HOUSTON — The loss of Chad Cordero could have been a devastating blow to the Washington Nationals’ bullpen, which was already struggling when the 26-year-old closer tore a muscle in the back of his right shoulder.
Instead, Washington’s relief corps has banded together and given manager Manny Acta its best work of the young season since losing the former All-Star. In the 10 games before last night’s loss, the bullpen posted a 6-0 record and 3.96 ERA (nearly a half-run lower than its season-long mark) and helped Washington go 8-2 over that span.
Acta agrees. Asked before last night’s game against the Houston Astros what the key to his team’s recent surge has been, he said: “I think it’s been the bullpen.”
And a big part of the bullpen’s improvement has been Luis Ayala, who has re-established himself as Acta’s go-to guy in the eighth inning.
Two years removed from the Tommy John surgery that briefly derailed his career, Ayala was 1-1 with a 3.44 ERA before allowing two runs in the eighth and taking the loss last night. He leads the majors with 21 relief appearances and remains on pace to crack the 80-game mark he last reached in 2004.
“He is the key,” Acta said. “Obviously, we needed him to come back to his form of 2005 and 2004 and 2003 and 2002 when he first came up with the Expos. If he wasn’t able to hold down that eighth inning, then we really would have gotten into trouble.”
With former setup man Jon Rauch pressed into closing duties for at least the next six weeks while Cordero recovers, Ayala has taken over the eighth-inning duties and thrived. Perhaps the best sign of the right-hander’s success: He was holding left-handed hitters to a .188 average entering last night’s game.
Just don’t ask the 30-year-old to talk about his strong return. Not wanting to jinx anything, he’s declining interview requests right now.
“Talk to me at the All-Star Game,” he said with a smile yesterday.
Rotation changes?
The Nationals haven’t announced their starting rotation for this weekend’s series against the Florida Marlins, perhaps because team officials are considering a change.
Matt Chico’s next turn comes Friday, and it’s possible the team could decide either to bump the struggling left-hander back or remove him from the rotation altogether.
One potential replacement for Chico: right-hander Jason Bergmann, who has thrown 14 consecutive scoreless innings at Class AAA Columbus and last pitched Saturday.
Acta said yesterday all his starters will remain on schedule, though he added: “If we make a change, we’ll let you know.”
Extra bases
Elijah Dukes was hitting .286 on his rehab assignment at Columbus through Monday. The injured outfielder, who strained his hamstring on Opening Night and hasn’t played since, likely will remain at Class AAA a bit longer while club officials wait for him get his swing back completely. …
Ryan Zimmerman returned to the Nationals’ lineup last night after taking a rare day off Sunday. The 23-year-old third baseman had previously played in 205 consecutive games, which was the second-longest active streak in the majors.
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