8:22 PM ET

There are reasons to doubt that the Washington Nationals will win the World Series in 2022. They got 29 more of them.

Even by exhibition standards, the Nationals were humiliated 29-8 by the St. Louis Cards in a spring training game.

Washington manager Dave Martinez said things got out of hand.

The Cards scored 15 times in the eighth frame.

In a regular-season game, St. Louis has never scored more than 12 runs. It was so brain-breaking that when Washington's Gilbert Lara hit a three-run home run in the bottom of the eighth, the scoreboard operator briefly awarded the runs to the other team.

Home runs by Paul DeJong and Paul Goldschmidt were among the hits.

The regular-season record in the National League for runs in a game is 28 in 1929. The records show their spring training high at 18 runs.

The Washington franchise traded three players ahead of the trade deadline a year ago. No one thinks this kind of loss will happen.

The pitcher allowed 10 runs on 12 hits and one walk. In the second frame, the 38 year old threw so many pitches that he was removed from the game, only to come back in the following frame.

I threw 90 pitches, and I am still healthy. Being ahead in the count is something I am working on. I want to be around the strike zone and not be afraid of everything that happened today.

Cavalli, Washington's top prospect, was 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217

I lost today, but I will keep my head up. I will learn from it, work, and everything will be good.

The final spot in Washington's rotation is up for grabs.

In his only other Grapefruit League outing, he pitched 2 1/3 hours, walking two and striking out three without giving up a hit.

Cavalli had allowed three earned runs in six appearances over the course of two spring appearances while striking out nine.

Once you see where the game is going, it's more about getting their up-down, getting their pitch count up there, and building for their next start.

The pitchers are expected to make one more start.

There was good news for the Washington pitching staff. Prior to Wednesday's game, Stephen Strasburg threw his first bullpen session.

The surgery that Strasburg is returning from was to treat thoracic outlet syndrome.

He felt like his mechanics were off, so we wanted to back him off a bit. He was good today.

The next outing will be in the pen. There is no timetable for the right-handed pitcher to pitch.

The report was contributed to by the Associated Press.