The Washington Nationals continue to have inclement weather in the area, and this game set for last night was postponed until September 16th in a day/night doubleheader against the Braves. The Nats beat the Braves on Tuesday night, and Washington extended their winning streak to 4-games and a 5-1 record since the team had a team meeting a week ago. One of the players who was just heating up for the Nats, Dylan Crews, is now on the IL with an oblique strain. Crews hit the go-ahead home run yesterday, and had a 3-run smash in the game before that. Taking Crews spot on the roster will be Robert Hassell III for his MLB debut.
With Crews to the IL, the only other current issue is the health of Jacob Young who is recovering from a shoulder contusion after he collided with the outfield wall on Saturday. He is listed as day-to-day.
After Mitchell Parker‘s win on Tuesday night, the team is now 7-3 in games he starts. He has now held his opponents to 3-or-fewer runs in six of his 10 starts. Kyle Finnegan notched his 15th save in yesterday’s game to tie him for the MLB lead. The bullpen threw a much-needed shutout last night in the 5-3 win. Since Lucas Sims was released, the Nats’ bullpen has a 3.22 ERA. That is less than half of what it was before that point.
“When your margin for error is smaller, you have to play a cleaner brand of baseball.”
— Rizzo said on Wednesday on 106.7 The Fan radio
You can see the recent bullpen usage here:
Here are your Nats’ WAR leaders with CJ Abrams and James Wood at +1.7 followed by MacKenzie Gore, and Mitchell Parker. The Baltimore series lifted a lot of WAR values.
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 over a month dating back to April 15. Luis Garcia Jr. has slumped this season defensively to a -5.0 already — and with CJ Abrams, they combine for -8.0 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. With as little as Amed Rosario has played on defense, he is at -7.0 OAA this season and the worst on the team. Per Statcast, his defense has cost the Nationals 5-runs. Is his offense good enough to make up that deficit? Keibert Ruiz, per Statcast, has a -5.0 OAA also. The Nationals were supposed to be better on defense. What has happened?
These are your stats leaders on BBRef. There are certainly some surprises on there — good and not so good — but the gap is widening.
“We talk so much about trying to beat up the starter and score first, and it’s come to fruition the last couple days. It’s been great. Our bullpen comes in with a little cushion. It’s good for them, too. The boys are really playing well.”
— manager Dave Martinez said after Tuesday’s game
The Nats starting pitchers have a combined ERA of 4.51 and 6th worst in MLB. The reliever’s ERA sits at a 6.41 and no longer the worst in baseball in ERA.
Here is how the starters rank by ERA:
No. 5 Starter: Trevor Williams 5.91
No. 4 Starter: Michael Soroka 5.95
No. 3 Starter: Mitchell Parker 4.39
No. 2 Starter: Jake Irvin 3.88
No. 1 Starter: MacKenzie Gore 3.67
Atlanta Braves vs. Washington Nationals
Stadium: Nationals Park, Washington, D.C.
1st Pitch: 6:45 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 183 for the home broadcast and the road team is online only.
Line-up subject to change (without notice):
