Some days you just flat-out get beaten, and the Nationals got beaten today. A familiar face by the name of Mike Soroka tossed seven innings of one-run ball this afternoon to help the Diamondbacks salvage a 5-1 win to avoid the sweep. Cade Cavalli struggled in the middle innings, and the offense was dormant outside of a solo homer by CJ Abrams, as the loss moves the Nats right back to .500 with a record of 33-33.

The Action

The scoring started out of the gates for Arizona, as Cade Cavalli hung an 0-2 curveball to Corbin Carroll in the bottom of the first, and Carroll got all of it on a solo homer to center. That 1-0 lead lasted all of just three pitches into the second inning, when CJ Abrams answered with a homer of his own to even up the score at one apiece.

Cavalli worked around two singles in the bottom of the second inning en route to throwing up a zero, but Mike Soroka answered the bell and stranded two base runners of his own in the third to keep the game deadlocked at one.

The tie would be broken in the bottom of the fourth, as the Diamondbacks finally cashed in on an opportunity against Cavalli. Back-to-back singles by Nolan Arenado and Pavin Smith set the table for Ryan Waldschmidt, who grounded into a fielder’s choice, bringing Arenado in to score. That put Arizona ahead 2-1, but in the fifth inning they doubled their total on a two-out two-run home run by Gabriel Moreno.

The big blast in the fifth put a damper on what really wasn’t an awful outing by Cavalli, as he just simply couldn’t work around the sheer volume of traffic that was on the base paths against him.

Meanwhile, the Nationals’ offense was accomplishing next to nothing against Soroka, as they got that homer in the second, but didn’t have another hit until a sixth-inning double by Curtis Mead.

Riley Cornelio got another opportunity at the big league level this afternoon, taking over for Cavalli in the sixth. He started off rocky, allowing runners on second and third with nobody out, but managed to get out of the inning unscathed to maintain the 4-1 score.

Soroka allowed a two-out double to Keibert Ruiz in the seventh, but got Jose Tena to ground out and end the inning. That gave Soroka seven innings of dominant baseball to lower his season ERA to 3.28, and justify the return that the Nats got for him in the trade with Chicago last year.

• Cade Cavalli: 5 innings, 7 hits, 4 runs (4 earned), 1 walk, 2 strikeouts, 88 pitches
• Mike Soroka: 7 innings, 3 hits, 1 run (1 earned), 2 walks, 6 strikeouts, 100 pitches

The D-backs finally got to Cornelio in the seventh inning, as Pavin Smith took advantage of a bases-loaded situation and drove in a run on a sacrifice fly to make it 5-1.

That would be our final score, as Kevin Ginkel and Taylor Clarke tossed scoreless frames to finish it off, and the Nationals were unable to complete the sweep in Phoenix.

What’s Next?

The Nationals will travel to San Francisco tonight, where they’ll begin a three-game series at the slumping Giants tomorrow night at 9:45. The task at hand will not be an easy one, as they’ll be up against the Giants’ ace, Logan Webb (3-4, 4.25 ERA). While the beginning of this season has been a tough one for him, he’s still one of the nastiest arms in the league with some strong success against the Nats in his career. The Nationals will counter with Miles Mikolas (1-5, 6.39 ERA), who has still not figured things out like his fellow newcomer Zack Littell has. You’ve got to imagine Paul Toboni and company won’t allow him to continue at the dreadful rate he’s been going at, so hopefully for his sake and the team’s that tomorrow night can be the start of a turnaround for Miles.

Down on the Farm

AAA Rochester

• 7-6 win today at Lehigh Valley (11 innings)
• Carson Palmquist: 2 innings, 2 hits, 2 runs, 0 walks, 0 strikeouts (5.40 ERA)
• Zak Kent: 1.2 innings, 2 hits, 0 runs, 1 walk, 3 strikeouts (4.08 ERA)
• Christian Franklin: 3-6, home run (4), double, RBI (.272 BA, .785 OPS)
• YoYo Morales: 2-3, RBI, 3 walks (.345 BA, 1.023 OPS)
• Brady House: 4-6, double, 2 RBIs (.300 BA, .856 OPS)
• Seaver King: 2-6 (.284 BA, .822 OPS)
• Tomorrow: Off-day

AA Harrisburg

• 7-3 loss today versus Somerset
• Alex Clemmey: 6 innings, 4 hits, 5 runs, 3 walks, 4 strikeouts (4.53 ERA)
• Sam Brown: 2-5, double (.248 BA, .757 OPS)
• Caleb Lomavita: 1-4, double (.230 BA, .759 OPS)
• Tomorrow: Off-day

High-A Wilmington

• 5-4 loss today versus Bowling Green (10 innings)
• Gavin Bruni: 5 innings, 2 hits, 0 runs, 2 walks, 5 strikeouts (7.00 ERA)
• Ronny Cruz: 2-5, RBI (.224 BA, .618 OPS)
• Yeremy Cabrera: 1-5, double, 2 RBIs (.235 BA, .625 OPS)
• Matt Suggs: 1-2, double, 2 walks (.214 BA, .701 OPS)
• Tomorrow: Off-day

Low-A Fredericksburg

• 8-6 win today versus Hill City
• Carson Fischer: 5 innings, 7 hits, 4 runs, 1 walk, 2 strikeouts (1.98 ERA)
• Eli Willits: 1-3, double, walk (.300 BA, .918 OPS)
• Gavin Fien: 2-5, double, 3 RBIs (.235 BA, .731 OPS)
• Luke Dickerson: 1-3, double, RBI, walk (.223 BA, .782 OPS)
• Coy James: 2-3, double, 2 RBIs (.220 BA, .761 OPS)
• Jack Moroknek: 2-3, walk (.309 BA, .970 OPS)
• Nick Peoples: 1-1, 3 walks (.190 BA, .704 OPS)
• Tomorrow: Off-day