The Washington D.C. rainforest weather cooperated yesterday to give almost enough of a window to play the game without precipitation. Today is a new day with some afternoon light rain expected after a sunny D.C. morning.
The Nats are in sole possession of second place in the NL East in this first week, and the division is really struggling out of the gates with both Miami and the Mets winless as of yesterday. With last night’s win by the Nats, they have a chance to win the series today.
Last night, Joey Gallo was the offensive star going 3-for-4, and just a triple shy of a cycle. His majestic HR was his first hit of the season, and it was a bomb, traveling 447 feet into the second deck in right field with an exit velo of 109 mph. After the game, Gallo joked, “Thank God — I did something good. I feel like I helped the team out a little bit.”
Your top Washington Nationals on the FanGraphs’ WAR leaderboard are CJ Abrams, Trey Lipscomb, Jesse Winker, Trevor Williams, Hunter Harvey, and Luis Garcia Jr. at +0.4, +0.3, and the other four at +0.2 respectively — and just how you had it drawn up, right? That is five games of production and Winker has not played much due to a stomach illness.
Speaking of illness, or more like an injury, Victor Robles has suffered another hamstring injury. This has been a common issue for him. A few times, the team did not place him on the IL, and played one man down to allow him to get better. Other times, he was placed on the IL. By the sounds of it, this could be a case of the latter as they have ordered an MRI for him this morning.
The Washington Nationals have many specials going on like the $5 DC residents ticket deal. Also, you can take advantage of a lengthened Happy Hour at Nationals Park which begins when gates open and goes until first pitch at the Budweiser Brewhouse, Budweiser Terrace and ULTRA Loft. On Happy Hour specials are 12-oz. cans of Budweiser, Bud Light and Michelob Ultra are just $5, and 12-oz. cans of Bud Light Seltzer are just $6.
“It was a good game all around.”
— manager Dave Martinez said
Josiah Gray is scheduled to start today in this afternoon finale against the Pirates. The Pirates have their No. 2 going with LHP Martin Perez. If you predicted Williams as your best Nats’ starter going the first time through the rotation, then you are Nostradamus.
The Nats starting pitchers have a combined ERA of 7.13 for 29th in MLB. Obviously sample sizes are miniscule at this point.
Here is how they rank:
No. 5 Starter: Josiah Gray 15.75
No. 4 Starter: Patrick Corbin 8.31
No. 3 Starter: Jake Irvin 5.40
No. 2 Starter: MacKenzie Gore 5.06
No. 1 Starter: Trevor Williams 3.38
Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Washington Nationals
Stadium: Nationals Park, Washington, D.C.
1st Pitch: 4:05 pm EDT
TV: MASN
Radio: 106.7 The Fan radio and via the MLB app; In Spanish on DC 87.7 FM and La Pantera 100.7 FM/1220 AM. Sirius/XM The Nats will be on Channel 179 and online for the opposing team
Line-up subject to change (without notice):
TalkNats is Celebrating the 5 and 100 year anniversaries of World Series Wins by providing Game-by-Game Summaries.
Game 6:
The 2019 Nationals won on 04/04 against the Mets by the score of 4-0 with a Stephen Strasburg gem, and a record of 3-3 on that date. Box Score / Standings
The 1924 Senators won on 04/21 at home against the Yankees by the score of 4-2 as Wally Pipp was the offensive star for the Yankees resulting in a Senators’ record of 3-3 on that date. Box Score / Standings