The Washington Nationals are 11-4 (.733) since May 14, and that is the best winning percentage in baseball during that span. The Nats set a team scoring record with four consecutive games with at least 9-runs each. With the bats going, can the Nats do it again against Corbin Burnes for the sweep? That is a tall order.
On the mound for the Nats is Mitchell Parker who is trying to get back on track. He turned in an 8.0 inning gem on April 22, and hasn’t been the same since that point when his ERA was 1.39. Since then, it has been 8.46 which is not sustainable.
We will see how manager Dave Martinez pieces together his bullpen with the current usage.
“We put together some good at-bats, everybody did, We spread the ball around the field. Everybody is working good at-bats, and we ended up scoring a bunch of runs, which we definitely needed tonight.”
— 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 -7.0 already — and with CJ Abrams, they combine for -11.0 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’re swinging at better pitches. We’re getting the ball up. And we are really focused on using the whole field, staying in the middle of the field. When we can do that, you can see we hit the ball pretty good.”
— manager Dave Martinez said last night
The Nats starting pitchers have a combined ERA of 4.44 and 6th worst in MLB. The reliever’s ERA sits at a 6.03 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 5.81
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: 4:10 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 185 for the home broadcast and the road team is online only.
Line-up subject to change (without notice):
