The Washington Nationals are 10-4 in the past two weeks, and last night’s win tied a scoring record for the Nationals with 9+ runs scored in three consecutive games. With the bats going, can the Nats do it again tonight?
On the mound for the Nats is Michael Soroka who is trying to prove that he is a top starting pitcher. So far, he has proven to be great in his first inning of work with a 0.00 ERA. The righty has also been good in his first 3-innings with a 3.00 ERA. After that, Soroka has been inconsistent, and it appears to be tied to stamina. Since he came off of the 15-day IL, he has pitched only four games, and just worked up to 6.0 innings and a season-high 91 pitches.
We will see how manager Dave Martinez pieces together his bullpen with an early afternoon DFA of Jorge Lopez. He was replaced on the roster by Eduardo Salazar. Closer Kyle Finnegan has pitched the past two games as he worked back from a fatigued arm/shoulder.
“It was seesaw for a while, but they put some good at-bats together.”
— 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 +2.5 with MacKenzie Gore at +2.1 followed by CJ Abrams, and Mitchell Parker.
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.
“We got the big hit from Nate again there, and Hassell drove in another run for us. The at-bats have been really good. Now, we’ve just got to sustain that and keep it going.”
— manager Dave Martinez said last night
The Nats starting pitchers have a combined ERA of 4.40 and 6th worst in MLB. The reliever’s ERA sits at a 6.00 and now only the third 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 3.93
No. 1 Starter: MacKenzie Gore 3.16
Washington Nationals vs. Arizona Diamondbacks
Stadium: Chase Field, Phoenix, Arizona
1st Pitch: 10:10 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):
