The Washington Nationals finish up this series with the Seattle Mariners tonight then will red-eye their American Airlines charter jet to Arizona after the game. This is a rubber game in the series.
For the Nationals, they turn to their No. 1 pitcher, MacKenzie Gore, in this game. He took a line drive off of his thigh in this last start and gutted it out in a Nats’ win. Gore says the leg is fine now.
With no save opportunity last night due to the large Nats’ lead, manager Dave Martinez did not have to use his closer, Kyle Finnegan, who has been out since last Thursday with a fatigued arm/shoulder. Martinez said he would be available if needed. Jacob Young took swings in the batting cage and Martinez said it took him a while to loosen up. He is recovering from a shoulder injury on a collision with the outfield wall over a week ago. Tomorrow would be the day that Young is eligible to come off of the IL, but it looks like they would send him out for a couple of games at a minor league affiliate before activating him.
“I’m proud of them for bouncing back today. Yesterday was a tough game. We came back today, and played the game the right way.”
— manager Dave Martinez said about last night’s game
You can see the recent bullpen usage here:
Here are your Nats’ WAR leaders James Wood at +2.3 with MacKenzie Gore at +1.8 followed by CJ Abrams, and Mitchell Parker. Those are impressive numbers that you can multiply by a factor of 3.06 to extrapolate to a full-season of results.
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 -6.0 already — and with CJ Abrams, they combine for -10.0 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 62 percent which must improve. With as little as Amed Rosario has played on defense, he is at -6.0 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 if he plays the field? Keibert Ruiz, per Statcast, has a -6.0 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.
“It loosens everybody up a little bit. The at-bats were good today. They were crisp.”
— manager Dave Martinez said last night about the Nats’ scoring early and often
The Nats starting pitchers have a combined ERA of 4.38 and 5th worst in MLB. The reliever’s ERA sits at a 6.11 and no longer the worst in baseball in ERA.
Here is how the starters rank by ERA:
No. 5 Starter: Trevor Williams 5.69
No. 4 Starter: Michael Soroka 5.61
No. 3 Starter: Mitchell Parker 4.65
No. 2 Starter: Jake Irvin 3.42
No. 1 Starter: MacKenzie Gore 3.67
Washington Nationals vs. Seattle Mariners
Stadium: T-Mobile Park, Seattle, Washington
1st Pitch: 9:40 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 89 for the home broadcast and the road team is online only.
Line-up subject to change (without notice):
