The Washington Nationals are now stuck in an 8-game losing streak. Washington had the matchup yesterday to end the losses, but only scored 1-run for MacKenzie Gore who gave up 2-runs in a 3-1 final. Out are the Marlins and in comes the Colorado Rockies.
For today’s game, the Nats turn to Jake Irvin to be their stopper as they face a Rockies lefty, Carson Palmquist who is 0-4 with a 7.77 ERA in his career with a 1.82 WHIP. Palmquist made his MLB debut on May 16th of this year. Here’s the thing, Palmquist is a little better on the road, away from Colorado. So we will see what happens since we have to play the games.
Before the game, the Nationals made five roster moves starting with the MLB debut of Brady House, and Daylen Lile was called-up for his second try. Going back to Triple-A is Jose Tena and Robert Hassell III. To make room on the 40-man roster, Juan Yepez was DFA’d.
“We’re looking at different options, for sure, but we’ve won before with these guys. They see what it’s like to win games, a few in a row. I know they don’t come to the ballpark thinking they’re going to lose. They thought again we had a chance to win today. We’ve got to keep battling. We’ve got 26 guys in that clubhouse that are going to give me everything they’ve got every day. We’ll focus on those 26 guys right now.”
— manager Dave Martinez said after yesterday’s game
Here is the bullpen usage:
Here are your Nats’ WAR leaders with James Wood at +2.8 and MacKenzie Gore 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 -7.0 already — and with CJ Abrams, they combine for -14.0 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 64 percent which must improve. His OAA is at 0.0 now. 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.
“We have to turn this around. It’s not like we can say, ‘Oh, we have time.’ We need to play better, we need to win games. But this game is going to hit you in the mouth. This has obviously lasted a little bit longer than we would’ve liked it to, but you figure out what people are about when things aren’t going well. The only way to do it is to come together as a group.”
— MacKenzie Gore said after yesterday’s game
The Nats starting pitchers have a combined ERA of 4.42 and 24th 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 5.71
No. 4 Starter: Michael Soroka 5.14
No. 3 Starter: Mitchell Parker 4.84
No. 2 Starter: Jake Irvin 4.21
No. 1 Starter: MacKenzie Gore 2.89
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 176 for the home broadcast and the road team is online only.
Line-up subject to change (without notice):
- Alex Call LF RH
- James Wood DH LH
- CJ Abrams SS LH
- Andres Chaparro 1B RH
- Amed Rosario 2B RH
- Brady House 3B RH
- Riley Adams C RH
- Daylen Lile RF LH
- Jacob Young CF RH
