Starters Working Longer

DENVER, July 6 -- Four times during the last 49 games, Washington Nationals starting pitchers have gone beyond the eighth inning. Twice, they've lasted the full nine. Under normal circumstances, this rate of stellar pitching wouldn't register as an oddity; after all, the standard big league team gets about four or five complete games every season. But here's the context, with the Nationals: In Manny Acta's first 354 games as manager, no starter went beyond eight innings.

So what has happened?

The trend of starters going deeper in games, Acta said, does not in any way reflect a philosophical change. Rather, it's a reflection of something far more basic.

"The only thing that affects my decision is the way the starters are pitching," Acta said.

In the last 1 1/2 months, Washington's starters have become better at pitching to contact -- in essence, throwing early-in-the-count strikes, allowing their defense to do the work.

It helps that Washington's new pitching coach, Steve McCatty, trusts this method as the foundation of his preaching. ("My philosophy is, you can't strike everybody out," McCatty said. "Try not to go deep in counts. If you do that, you go through pitches and waste them.") It also helps, of course, that Washington's defense -- every once in a while -- avoids its worst-in-the-majors form. In the four games where starters have gone beyond the eighth, the Nationals have made just one error.

So it's not that Acta is letting his starters rack up higher pitch counts. It's that starters, with pitch counts that used to take them into the middle of the sixth, are now heading into the eighth.

"If we play good defense behind them," Acta said, "that's gonna help them out."

Wells Clears Waivers

Relief pitcher Kip Wells, designated for assignment on June 24, cleared waivers and has elected to become a free agent.

In 23 games with Washington (26 1/3 innings), Wells had a 6.49 ERA. . . .

A few of the outfielders on the National League all-star roster (Carlos Beltrán, Raúl Ibáñez) are banged up right now, either on the disabled list or on rehab assignment. Thus the National League squad might be in need of some subs. But Adam Dunn won't be one of them -- even if he's asked. (And he hasn't been yet.) Dunn said on Monday that his right wrist is a little banged up, and he intends to take the three days off to rest.

Outfielder Elijah Dukes, demoted to Class AAA Syracuse last week, went 2 for 4 in his first game with the Chiefs. Dukes started in right field and batted third.