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Nats' Chico Has Wild Night in Miami
Matt Chico issued seven walks, two to Marlins pitcher Anibal Sanchez, and threw two wild pitches, including one in the first that slipped from his hand and landed in the stands.
(By Alan Diaz -- Associated Press)
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It was, however, a bizarre thing, the wildest of wild pitches. Most in the announced crowd of 24,107 rose to their feet, several waving towels, doing their best to mock the 23-year-old, who might as well have stood naked on the grass behind the mound.
"It just slipped right out," Chico said. "Kind of one of those where I went back and didn't have a tight enough grip and it came right out of my hand."
He took another ball, inhaled deeply, walked up to the rubber -- and fired a strike to Willingham. Two pitches later, Schneider put his hand down to call another pitch for Willingham. Change-up.
"I didn't want him to think, 'Oh, [shoot], I can't throw a change-up' ," Schneider said.
Willingham swung through it, and Chico struck him out.
Had Chico collected himself from there, "the pitch" might have been a funny footnote to a start that turned around. But the reality was that Chico took the Nationals out of this game. He didn't allow the Marlins to hit a ball in fair territory until he had walked the bases full in the first, and that hit -- on his 30th pitch -- was a two-run single by Cody Ross.
His most significant sins, however, came in ensuing innings. With one out in the second, he walked Anibal Sanchez, the opposing pitcher, on four pitches. The result was predictable: Hanley Ramirez jumped on a fat fastball and drilled it into the seats in left field, a two-run homer that made it 4-1.
In the fifth, after Chico had somewhat bounced back to retire eight of nine hitters and the Nationals had pulled within 4-3, he did it again -- only worse. Acta badly needed Chico to survive the fifth, because his bullpen is under extreme duress as it is, and Chico's spot was due up second the following inning. Chico couldn't do it, walking eighth-place hitter Jason Wood to load the bases and, again, get to Sanchez.
The task should be among the simplest in baseball: retire the pitcher.
"That's got to be an out," Chico said. "No matter what."
It wasn't. Worse, Chico bounced a breaking pitch in the dirt, a wild pitch that scored one run. He then walked Sanchez on a 3-1 pitch. It was his last of the night.
"The damage could have been worse," Acta said. "That wasn't what we were looking for."
Chico has had starts like this in the minors. He has thrown pitches like that before. This is, however, the first time he has done so in the majors. "It was a blooper," Schneider said.
One that could appear over and over. He said it doesn't matter. He's not much for highlights -- or lowlights -- anyway.
"I try not to watch them," he said. "I'm definitely not going to watch that one."
