WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Washington Nationals fans have reason to doubt 2022 will be their year. They got 29 more of them Wednesday.
Pitchers Anibal Sanchez and Cade Cavalli each allowed 10 runs while the Nationals were shot 29-8 by the St. Louis Cardinals in a spring training game — a laugh, even by exhibition standards.
“Things just got a little bit out of hand,” Washington manager Dave Martinez said. “They had some hits today where they had the magic wand.”
The Cardinals scored 15 goals in the eighth inning, a barrage that began against Cavalli.
St. Louis has never netted more than 12 runs in an innings during a regular season game. The outburst was so brain-wracking that when Washington’s Gilbert Lara hit a three-run homer late in the round of 16, the scoreboard operator momentarily awarded the runs to the Cardinals — perhaps from muscle memory.
Home runs by Paul DeJong, Paul Goldschmidt and Yadier Molina were among St. Louis’ 26 hits.
After 131 years in the National League, the Cardinals’ regular-season record is 28 runs in a game, in 1929 against Philadelphia. Records from 1996 show them high in spring training at 18 runs.
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Hopes aren’t particularly high in Washington a year after the franchise traded Max Scherzer, Trea Turner and Kyle Schwarber ahead of the trade deadline. However, nobody sees this kind of loss coming.
Sanchez allowed 10 runs on 12 hits and a four-inning walk. In the second inning, the 38-year-old threw so many pitches that Martinez removed him, only to put him back into play in the following inning.
“I’ve thrown about 90 pitches and I’m still healthy,” Sanchez said. “So that’s a good thing at the moment. I’m just working on being ahead of the count. I don’t want to be afraid of everything that happened today and try to be close to the strike zone.”
Cavalli, Washington’s best prospect, managed to remain bullish after allowing 11 runs in 2 1/3 innings, 10 of which were earned.
“I went into battle and lost today,” Cavalli said. “I’ll keep my head up. I will learn from it, work and everything will be fine.”
Sanchez and Cavalli are being considered for last in Washington’s rotation.
In Sanchez’s only other Grapefruit League appearance, he threw 2 1/3 innings without a win, walking two and knocking out three without giving up a shot.
Cavalli, who could also come on the team as a backup, had allowed three earned runs in six innings and struck out nine in two spring appearances.
“Once you see where the game is going, it’s more about hitting their highs and lows, getting their pitch count there and building up for their next start,” Martinez said.
Both pitchers are expected to make one more start before Washington breaks camp.
Off the field, there was good news from a Washington pitching perspective. Stephen Strasburg threw his first bullpen session in what Martinez described as “a while” before Wednesday’s game.
Strasburg is returning from surgery to treat thoracic outlet syndrome.
“We backed off a bit because he felt like his mechanics had failed,” Martinez said. “We wanted to hold it back a little bit to make it feel right. But he was good today.”
Strasburg’s next appearance will also be at the Bullpen. There is no timetable for the right-hander to show up in a game.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.