The Washington Nationals had a lead that they lost in the bullpen last night, but in the end, the Nats won on an 11th inning wild pitch walk-off. After a rain delay of over four hours, and a very long extra innings game — it was over 8.0 hours to get most Nats fans door-to-door last night. They got a 6.0 inning one-run gem from Jake Irvin who pushed his ERA down to 4.20 — and the most impressive part is his 3.76 ERA in the second half. Josiah Gray‘s second half slide only has him 0.07 in ERA ahead of Gray for the team lead.
The DMV will have the Nats and Commanders going simultaneously in games in the DMV. FedEx Field is sold-out and the crowd should top 67,000 fans which will be close to what the Nats had in combined attendance on Friday and Saturday night. The Washington Mystics played on Friday night in DC, the DC United football team played yesterday as well as the Maryland Terrapins football team.
While Michael Chavis‘ did not get a Topps Now® card to commemorate his winning run for the walk-off last night on a wild pitch, Lane Thomas got a card for being the first Nats player to hit a home run in four straight games played since Bryce Harper did it in 2016.
The Nats are starting Trevor Williams today in this season finale with the Dodgers. He has been statistically speaking the worst pitcher the Nats have with a second half ERA of 6.80. With an over-worked Nats’ bullpen, manager Dave Martinez needs Williams to go deep in this game.
Martinez also announced that the team will start Patrick Corbin tomorrow in Pittsburgh to start that four game series. Joan Adon gets the Tuesday game, and Wednesday is still a TBD and could possibly be Jackson Rutledge for his MLB debut. The Thursday afternoon finale in PNC Park will be Gray on three day’s of extra rest. Mackenzie Gore is on the IL with a blister and finished for the season. His spot created the TBD for Wednesday.
“As we all know, [Josiah Gray] is our All-Star, and while he’s been struggling a little bit of late, I just want to give him a little break.”
— manager Dave Martinez said
The Nats starting pitchers have a combined ERA of 4.84 for 22nd best in MLB.
Here is how they rank:
No. 6 Starter: Joan Adon 5.59 (starter’s ERA only)
No. 5 Starter: Patrick Corbin 5.23
No. 4 Starter: Trevor Williams 5.21
No. 3 Starter: MacKenzie Gore 4.42
No. 2 Starter: Jake Irvin 4.20
No. 1 Starter: Josiah Gray 4.13
Here is your Baseball Savant link for the game.
Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Washington Nationals
Stadium: Nationals Park, Washington, D.C.
1st Pitch: 1:35 pm EDT
TV: MASN2
Radio: 106.7 The Fan radio and via the MLB app
