For all the talk about his revamped mechanics, his work with pitching coach Randy St. Claire and his potential to recapture the eye-popping potential that sustained him for five years in Baltimore, Daniel Cabrera's first start with the Nationals looked an awful lot like many of his outings with the Orioles.
The 6-foot-9 right-hander gave up seven hits and five runs in six innings against the Florida Marlins on Wednesday, which wasn't a terrible showing. Mistakes he made in the fifth inning, however, did him in.
Cabrera gave up two two-out hits, then hit Jorge Cantu with a fastball before throwing a 1-and-0 fastball to Dan Uggla that caught too much of the plate and went for a three-run double.
By the end of the inning, he'd given up four runs, put the Nationals in a 5-2 hole and negated most of the good work that came before the fifth inning of a 6-4 loss.
"You can't take away that fifth inning, but without that, he did pitch a very good ballgame," manager Manny Acta said. "Things kind of unraveled after two outs."
Cabrera, who led the American League in wild pitches and hit batters last year, had one of each Wednesday. Despite walking two batters in the first two innings and throwing the wild pitch in the second to put runners on second and third, he escaped without a run.
It was the fastball to Cantu that got him in trouble.
"I was trying to come in, like I'd been throwing all day to him," Cabrera said. "It squirted out of my hand and hit him."
MARLINS 6, NATIONALS 4: The Nationals had a 2-0 lead after the first inning and fell behind 5-2 in large part because of the Marlins' big fifth inning. Washington scored a run in the eighth and another in the ninth, forcing Florida closer Matt Lindstrom to throw 32 pitches in the last inning. The Marlins pulled out the victory when Brett Carroll made a diving grab of Austin Kearns' bases-loaded, two-out liner to left field.
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