Nats can't get relief

• Article
• Comments ()
• Click-2-Listen
• Videos

By Mark Zuckerman

CINCINNATI | Manny Acta can push buttons, pull levers and wear down a swath of grass between the dugout and the mound all he wants.

But until the six men in Acta's bullpen prove they can make the pitches necessary to get key outs, it won't matter what moves the Washington Nationals manager makes.

Washington's relievers have been costing their team games all season, and Thursday night's 5-3 loss to the Cincinnati Reds was only the latest example. An eminently winnable game turned into yet another defeat when the National League's worst bullpen handed the Reds a pair of seventh-inning runs, the defining moments of a rainy evening at Great American Ball Park.

Asked to protect a tie game and give his teammates a chance to come back and win, Jesus Colome instead wound up the losing pitcher. With one out and no one on, the right-hander fielded Corey Patterson's bunt and turned to make what should have been a routine throw to first base.

Colome, though, got worried Patterson was going to beat out the play, so he fired a 40-foot laser at Dmitri Young, who had no chance to make the catch. Patterson raced to second on a play scored an error on Young but clearly a mistake on the pitcher's part.

"That's a killer," Acta said. "It's only 27 outs. They are precious. You've got to get every single one of them, and we just didn't do that today."

Colome, part of a Washington bullpen that owns an NL-worst 4.54 ERA, tried to insist the hurried throw was necessary.

"I think if Dmitri catches the ball right there, this inning, it's two outs," the reliever said. "It's different two outs than one out. But he tried to catch. He missed the ball, but I know he tried to catch. Some things happen sometimes."

Young wouldn't pin it all on his pitcher, but he conceded the throw "was a little bit harder than usual. Unfortunately, it opened up the floodgates."

Did it ever. Colome (2-2) proceeded to surrender a single to Jerry Hairston that would have scored Patterson had the latter not slipped coming around third. Still, Hairston advanced to second and coaxed Acta into intentionally walking Jeff Keppinger to load the bases for Ken Griffey Jr.