The Washington Nationals are mired in a 6-game losing streak, and the lack of offense was the main culprit this time. Jake Irvin tried to be the stopper last night. Now it is up to Michael Soroka who returns to Atlanta, where it all began. Back in 2018, it was SunTrust Park. Most of what Soroka had in Atlanta has changed. Now, he needs to be the stopper for his Nats today.
Manager Dave Martinez cannot be too happy these days. But Davey has been in long losing streaks before, and has to hope that his team can find a way to win.
The Nationals will be without Luis Garcia Jr. as he is on the paternity list. Taking his roster spot is Trey Lipscomb.
“We need to accept our walks. It’s the bottom line. We need to accept our walks – and stop chasing. It’s how we’re gonna get runs. It’s how we’re gonna comeback and win games.”
— manager Dave Martinez said after Saturday’s loss
“We’re young. That’s a big part of it. I think they’ve just got to understand the feel of the game. All of a sudden, we get down 4 runs, don’t just go up there and swing just to swing. I know he was good. He was attacking the zone, but make him work a little bit. It needs to happen.”
You can see the recent bullpen usage here:
Here are your Nats’ WAR leaders with James Wood at +1.4 and MacKenzie Gore +1.2 and followed by CJ Abrams and Mitchell Parker. On the negative side, Josh Bell has fallen to a -0.8 at this point and the worst on the team.
On defense, the stats are starting to give you an idea of what this defense is all about. Paul DeJong is your OAA leader and he hasn’t played in almost a month dating back to April 15. Luis Garcia Jr. has slumped this season defensively 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 61 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.
“I talk about it every day that we had some opportunities, and in those situations, we chased some pitches out of the zone. … We just got to continue to work on it, continue to talk about it. Everybody in the league knows that we’re going to go up there and swing — but we got to start swinging at strikes.”
— Martinez said after last night’s game, a speech that he has made numerous times before
The Nats starting pitchers have a combined ERA of 4.43 and 7th worst in MLB. The reliever’s ERA sits at a 7.08 and is the worst in MLB.
Here is how the starters rank by ERA:
No. 5 Starter: Trevor Williams 5.88
No. 4 Starter: Michael Soroka 7.20
No. 3 Starter: Mitchell Parker 3.97
No. 2 Starter: Jake Irvin 4.00
No. 1 Starter: MacKenzie Gore 3.59
Washington Nationals vs. Atlanta Braves
Stadium: Truist Park, Atlanta, Georgia
1st Pitch: 7:15 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. On Sirius/XM, tune to Channel 182 for the home broadcast and the road team is online only.
Line-up subject to change (without notice):
- CJ Abrams SS
- James Wood LF
- Nathaniel Lowe 1B
- Keibert Ruiz C
- Amed Rosario 3B
- Josh Bell DH
- Dylan Crews RF
- Jose Tena 2B
- Jacob Young CF
