“It was about what I expected.”
That is how Nationals starting pitcher John Patterson summed up his first rehab start at Potomac. He pitched three and a third innings of a 4-1 loss at home to Winston-Salem. Patterson surrendered four hits, one walk, and two runs (only one earned) while striking out four on a strict pitch count (he threw 55 pitches, 35 for strikes). His fastball had good life to it, consistently sitting in the low 90s. Early on his curveball (sitting in the mid-80s) had great movement. He had a couple of breaking pitches early on that had the hitters bailing out. But as Patterson stated as the game wore on, he “started fighting it a little bit.” His slider was the one pitch he felt needed work, “It was OK today. Probably the least effective pitch, but I threw some good ones.” He felt that the “thing that is most important now really is throwing an inning, sitting down, getting back up and warming up.”
P-Nats pitching coach Charlie Corbell felt that Patterson started off strong, but needed to “knock the rust off.” “His fastball had real hop to it,” stated Corbell, though he didn’t have his normal fastball command. “He was loose, easy, and felt good out there competing,” added Corbell. Catcher Devin Ivany felt that though he had never caught Patterson before, he wasn’t as sharp as he’d seen him but he pitched around the zone. Patterson pitched effectively and only surrendered runs after a two-error by shortstop Ian Desmond on a routine grounder and a questionable call by the home plate umpire.
In the second, Desmond’s error was followed by a stolen base and a wild pitch (more a cross-up with Ivany on a curveball). The run then scored on a single by Wart Hogs second baseman Jose de los Santos. Patterson was working on situational pitching at that point. He battled back from 2-0 to 3-2 with three consecutive breaking pitches. He would have probably come back with another breaking pitch at 3-2 in normal game action, but wanted to work on his fastball in. He left it out over the plate and de los Santos singled to right scoring the first run.
In the third, after walking the first hitter on four pitches. Patterson bounced back getting the next hitter on a popped-up bunt. After a catcher’s interference on a pitchout, Patterson got the second out on a fielder’s choice. With runners on the corners and two outs, Patterson got designated hitter Chris Kelly to pop up down the first baseline. Second baseman Trey Webb made a diving attempt to catch it but the ball glanced off of his glove in foul territory. The homeplate umpire erroneously ruled it a fair ball allowing Patterson’s second run to score. Patterson settled down and retired the side without further damage. After being removed from the game, Patterson said that his arm felt good and never tightened up. His main focus for the immediate future is to build up his stamina. Patterson said, “One more rehab start, possibly New Orleans and after that my pitches should be high enough to return.” He is aiming to throw 75-80 pitches or five plus innings in his next rehab start and is looking to look for more consistency and to refine his slider.
When asked about the long layoff, Patterson commented that alot of that was the team. After his start in Melbourne, “[My] arm didn’t feel bad, it was just a little bit sore. They wanted to hold me back a little bit longer. Longer than I really wanted it to be.” His focus remained to get back on the mound because it was “important to boost my confidence and get going in the right direction.”
Tonight, Patterson started off on his road to recovery that should hopefully end back in the Washington rotation in the not too distant future.
