The Washington Nationals arrived in Cincinnati just before 1AM last night after a late game in Philadelphia. The players got to bed just after 2AM, and now are sitting through a lengthy rain delay. In fact the entire weekend calls for a lot of rain. Tonight matches up the Reds ace, Hunter Greene, and the Nats top ERA pitcher, Mitchell Parker.
The Nats enter this game with a 14-18 record. Turn two losses into wins, and the Nationals would be at .500. The Nats just need to start winning more close games like they did last night in Philadelphia. The Nats are 13-12 since their putrid 1-6 start to the season.
“Great job. Way to compete. [Brad Lord] put us in a good spot.”
— Miguel Cairo said as the stand-in manager last night
You can see the recent bullpen usage here and the addition of the newly acquired Andrew Chafin in the graphic:
Here are your Nats’ WAR leaders with MacKenzie Gore followed by James Wood, Mitchell Parker, and Keibert Ruiz. On the negative side, Josh Bell has fallen to a -0.8 to this point.
On defense, Paul DeJong is your OAA leader , and Luis Garcia Jr. has slumped to a -3.0 already — and with CJ Abrams, they combine for -6.0 OAA. Another issue that we have discussed is the positioning of Nathaniel Lowe at first base as he is too often out of position to make a play — and OAA has his chance at success at only 57 percent which must improve.
These are your stats leaders on BBRef. There are certainly some surprises on there — good and not so good — but the gap is widening.
“Getting the first win, that’s a huge accomplishment. I was just extremely happy with it.”
— Lord said after last night’s game
The Nats starting pitchers have a combined ERA of 4.03 and 18th best in MLB. The reliever’s ERA sits at a 7.12 and is the worst in MLB.
Here is how the starters rank by ERA:
No. 5 Starter: Trevor Williams 5.70
No. 4 Starter: Michael Soroka 7.20
No. 3 Starter: Mitchell Parker 2.65
No. 2 Starter: Jake Irvin 4.01
No. 1 Starter: MacKenzie Gore 3.51
Washington Nationals vs. Cincinnati Reds
Stadium: Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
1st Pitch: 6:05 pm EDT
TV: MASN2
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. On Sirius/XM, tune to Channel 175 for the home broadcast and the road team is online only.
Line-up subject to change (without notice):
