The Washington Nationals were feeling good after their series opening win against the Phillies on Friday night. But they fell flat on Saturday and Sunday, and had a scheduled day-off yesterday for some much needed rest, and take on a Diamondbacks team that is playing well. Arizona comes into this series with a tie for first place in the NL West alongside the powerhouse Los Angeles Dodgers. The DBacks manager, Torey Lovullo, just got an extension through the 2024 season. The are led by rookie Corbin Carroll, and a good pitching staff.
After this series ends on Thursday, there will be less than 100-games remaining in this 2023 regular season. The Nats need to get back to winning series to have any chance of getting back on that pace the team found through May.
The Nats have Jake Irvin on the mound for this one, and in his last four starts it has been a combination of good and awful. His first two starts were good, and he has to find his way back to that success. The DBacks have lefty Tommy Henry on the mound and he has been a solid No. 3 pitcher for them with a 3.73 ERA and a 1.24 WHIP. A marked improvement over last year. Nats’ manager Dave Martinez will leave three lefties in the lineup today and just put Stone Garrett in left field for Corey Dickerson.
The Nats will be holding their 18th Pride Night Out for LGBTQ+, and the team says it is the longest running event of any team. Throwing out the first pitch is Nancy Pelosi, the former House Speaker. Normally Sean Doolittle would be catch that first pitch for Pride night but he is off the minor league IL and pitching with Harrisburg Double-A. Doolittle tweeted out messages to the LGBTQ+ community telling them that he will miss them and will have a special event at some point.
“ [Nancy Pelosi] is being recognized for her long-standing commitment to fighting for the rights and dignities of the LGBTQ+ community. ”
— Washington Nationals press release
The Nats starting pitchers have a combined ERA of 4.50 for 18th best in MLB. The Nats are just 0.36 from 10th best in MLB in ERA.
Here is how they rank:
No. 5 Starter: Jake Irvin 5.67 ERA
No. 4 Starter: Patrick Corbin 4.92
No. 3 Starter: Trevor Williams 4,15
No. 2 Starter: MacKenzie Gore 3.66
No. 1 Starter: Josiah Gray 3.09
Things got so bad for Andres Machado during Sunday’s game that he was seen packing his bags, and TalkNats broke the news that the team would call-up RHP Jordan Weems from Triple-A. This afternoon, the Nats made all of that official. The 40-man roster now stands at 39-players, and many believe that spot will be held for Doolittle when he is ready.
Here is your Baseball Savant Statcast link for the game.
Arizona Diamondbacks vs. Washington Nationals
Stadium: Nationals Park, Washington, D.C.
1st Pitch: 7:05 pm EDT
TV: MASN2
Radio: 106.7 The Fan radio and via the MLB app
Game #60 in 1924: The Senators beat the Yankees 3-2 in the Bronx in front of 8,000 fans. Firpo Marberry was the winning pitcher for Washington, and he surrendered a HR to Babe Ruth in the first inning. Marberry pitched a complete game and had a key triple in the game. Goose Goslin knocked in two runs and was the Senators’ offensive star. They raised their record to 34-26.
Game #60 in 2019: With a big Tuesday crowd of 32,519 fans at Nats Park to face the White Sox, Stephen Strasburg delivered the win with a Sean Doolittle save in a 9-5 finish. While it was one of Strasburg’s worst starts of the season with 5 earnies over 5.0 innings, he got a gift of 6 runs scored by his offense in the bottom of the 5th inning that allowed manager Dave Martinez to send his ace to the showers early with the lead. The Nats crushed their former teammate, Reynaldo Lopez, in this one for 6 earnies. Howie Kendrick, Anthony Rendon and Victor Robles all homered in this one. The Nats were inching closer to .500 with this win as they improved to 27-33.
World Series Years Game 60 Summaries
| 1924 Box Score The Senators beat the Yankees 3-2 in the Bronx in front of 8,000 fans. Firpo Marberry was the winning pitcher for Washington, and he surrendered a HR to Babe Ruth in the first inning. Marberry pitched a complete game and had a key triple in the game. Goose Goslin knocked in two runs and was the Senators’ offensive star. They raised their record to 34-26. | 2019 Box Score With a big Tuesday crowd of 32,519 fans at Nats Park to face the White Sox, Stephen Strasburg delivered the win with a Sean Doolittle save in a 9-5 finish. While it was one of Strasburg’s worst starts of the season with 5 earnies over 5.0 innings, he got a gift of 6 runs scored by his offense in the bottom of the 5th inning that allowed manager Dave Martinez to send his ace to the showers early with the lead. The Nats crushed their former teammate, Reynaldo Lopez, in this one for 6 earnies. Howie Kendrick, Anthony Rendon and Victor Robles all homered in this one. The Nats were inching closer to .500 with this win as they improved to 27-33. | |
