The Washington Nationals are now stuck in a 5-game losing streak. Last night, they needed one productive out in the 9th inning to tie the game with no outs, and the tying run standing on third base. The Nats went scoreless until the 9th inning when they plated three runs and made it a 4-3 game. But three consecutive outs on the infield turned it into another one-run loss.
Manager Dave Martinez left Keibert Ruiz in the game to bat as the final out of the game. Ruiz smoked a ball on the ground — but directly to first baseman Pete Alonso for the final out of the game.
Tonight will be another game being played under the threat of rain. There is a postgame concert scheduled with Nelly, and they are expecting a late-arriving and large crowd for this Friday night game against the Marlins. The projected starters are Mitchell Parker for the home team and RHP Edward Cabrera for Miami.
“Senga was just really good. He kept everybody off-balance. I know we were at two strikes a lot, but he was really good, man. The fastballs and cutters that he threw were really nothing over the middle, the heart of the plate. So we had to battle all day.”
— manager Dave Martinez said after yesterday’s game
You can see the recent bullpen usage here:
Here are your Nats’ WAR leaders with MacKenzie Gore and James Wood at +2.6 followed by CJ Abrams.
On defense, the stats are clear as to what his defense is all about. Paul DeJong is your OAA leader and he hasn’t played in nearly two months dating back to April 15. Jacob Young has missed a large chunk of the season and he is just below DeJong.. Luis Garcia Jr. has slumped this season defensively to a -6.0 already — and with CJ Abrams, they combine for -13.0 OAA. That is the worst middle infield in baseball.
Another defensive 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 63 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 if he plays the field? Keibert Ruiz, per Statcast, has a -8.0 OAA also. The Nationals were supposed to be better on defense. That clearly isn’t the case.
These are your stats leaders on BBRef. There are certainly some surprises on there — good and not so good.
“I loved the at-bats that last inning. So we got to take that, come back tomorrow and start those at-bats from the first inning on. Those at-bats were great.”
— Martinez said after yesterday’s game
The Nats starting pitchers have a combined ERA of 4.38 and 23rd best in MLB. You might be surprised at the team just ahead of the Nationals in the rankings. The reliever’s ERA sits at a 5.70 and now only the second 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 5.14
No. 3 Starter: Mitchell Parker 4.44
No. 2 Starter: Jake Irvin 4.21
No. 1 Starter: MacKenzie Gore 2.88
Miami Marlins 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 177 for the home broadcast and the road team is online only.
Line-up subject to change (without notice):
- CJ Abrams SS LH
- James Wood LF LH
- Luis Garcia Jr. 2B LH
- Nathaniel Lowe 1B LH
- Josh Bell DH SH
- Alex Call RF RH
- Jose Tena 3B LH
- Keibert Ruiz C SH
- Robert Hassell III CF LH
