Uneven debut from Reynaldo Lopez underscores importance of Joe Ross

12:05 AM ET

WASHINGTON — The kids aren’t alright. Not yet, anyway.

Making his big-league debut filling in for injured starter Joe Ross, 22-year old Reynaldo Lopez got shelled early in the Washington Nationals’ 8-4 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers. The flame-throwing Lopez, who was ranked the Nationals’ number five prospect to start the season, served up a leadoff homer to Chase Utley and allowed hits to seven of the first 11 Los Angeles batters he faced. Most of the damage came against Lopez’ fastball, which regularly registered 98 miles an hour. As electric as the young righty’s heater was, more impressive was his curve – his learning curve, that is.

After the early onslaught, Lopez holstered the hard stuff and started relying more on his offspeed pitches. Mixing in a mid-80’s changeup and a high-70’s curveball, the young righty retired the next eight batters in a row, including six via strikeout. By the time he ran out of gas after 4 2/3 innings and 105 pitches, he’d tallied nine K’s. It was the most strikeouts ever in a Nationals debut by someone not named Stephen Strasburg. According to ESPN Stats & Info, it was also the first time in the last 100 years that a pitcher fanned at least nine batters in a debut that lasted fewer than five …

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