The month of July was not kind to Mackenzie Gore, and this afternoon, amid swirling rumors connecting him to multiple potential trade destinations, he certainly didn’t make himself look any better. To be clear, nobody in a Nationals uniform did much to make themselves look good today; it was just yet another instance of the Nats playing horribly with a series win on the line.
Jose Altuve was a serious thorn in their side today. His 4-4 day began in the bottom of the first inning when his leadoff single resulted in the first run of the game, with Cam Smith scoring Altuve on a sacrifice fly.
The Nats would answer back in the top of the second off of rookie right-hander Ryan Gusto. Daylen Lile evened this game up with a sacrifice fly of his own in the second. Then things began to go very wrong for Mackenzie Gore. The Astros got two runners on base with two outs in the second, and Jose Altuve picked up his second hit in as many innings, this one of the ‘over the wall’ variety. His three-run shot would open this game up for Houston, giving the Astros a 4-1 lead that would only grow from there.
To Gore’s credit, he settled down in the middle innings, doing a nice job to hold the Astros where they were through the fifth inning. Miguel Cairo decided to send him out for the sixth inning, and whether you agree with it or not, that decision proved costly for Gore and the Nats. After forcing a groundout to begin the inning, Gore allowed a single and then worked a 2-2 count against Cooper Hummel, who took a curveball very close to the top of the strike zone. This pitch could’ve very easily gone either way, which was called a ball, much to the displeasure of Gore and Cairo. The next pitch was smacked by Hummel over the left field wall, ruining Gore’s stat line for the day, and putting this game out of reach for the Nats. Gore was pulled after that batter, and Miguel Cairo was ejected on his way back to the dugout by home plate umpire Ryan Additon for sharing his feelings about the missed strike call.
The game didn’t get any better from there. Cole Henry was called on to replace Gore, and he just didn’t have it today either. Before he could get the Nats out of the bottom of the sixth, Yainer Diaz got him for a three-run homer that made this one officially a laugher, giving us what ended up being the final score of 9-1.
The offense today didn’t show up for much. The opportunity was there for the Nats to win their third straight series; they had their ace on the mound against Houston’s number five starter, but Ryan Gusto did not pitch like a number five starter this afternoon. Without anything in his arsenal that’s particularly overpowering, he kept the Nats just off-balance enough for six innings to hold their bats at bay for six strong innings.
- Mackenzie Gore: 5.1 innings, 8 hits, 6 runs (all earned), 1 walk, 4 strikeouts, 97 pitches
- Ryan Gusto: 6 innings, 4 hits, 1 run (1 earned), 1 walk, 5 strikeouts, 102 pitches
The Nats went away quietly over the final three innings against Houston relievers, twice mounting rallies but neither time were able to bring anybody in to score. The worst stat we have for this series comes from the Nats’ offense. In 81 outs this series, the Nats’ hitters struck out 41 times. Half of the outs the Astros’ pitching staff got in this series were via the strikeout. That’s beyond unacceptable. The Nats have got to do a better job of working counts like we saw Houston hitters do so often this series. Daylen Lile does a really good job of it, and even Drew Millas has done a good job of it when he’s gotten the chance recently. The approach that the Nats had against Framber Valdez on Monday night needs to be something we see a lot more often, not necessarily the results they got against Valdez; those were pretty bad. But the process, the approach that the Nats had was to see as many pitches per at-bat as possible, and to wear him down as quickly as they could. A lineup that gets good at doing that consistently is going to be a major problem for opposing pitching staffs to deal with.
Positives this afternoon on the pitching side consisted of just Konnor Pilkington and Zach Brzykcy, both of whom were in Rochester a week or so ago. They both tossed scoreless innings out of the bullpen this afternoon. Offensively, Josh Bell had the only multi-hit game for the Nats today, but Daylen Lile will get a shoutout as well because he had some really good plate appearances in this game, where he saw a lot of pitches and came away with a walk and an RBI.
The Nats will have an off-day tomorrow, but this was the final game for the Nats before the trade deadline, which is tomorrow night at 6:00 eastern. The Nats made another deal shortly before this game began, trading Luis Garcia (the pitcher) and Andrew Chafin to the Los Angeles Angels for a package that includes Jake Eder, a 26-year-old left-handed pitcher, and a former Top-100 prospect. He’s bounced between Triple-A and the major leagues this season as both a starter and reliever. I’d like to see the Nats try him out as a long man coming out of the big league bullpen and see if he can find some success outside of being in the rotation. The other player coming to the Nationals is a Double-A first baseman named Sam Brown.
It’s hard to tell who exactly will not be on the team the next time they take the field on Friday night. There have been rumors circulating about plenty of guys, but you never know until those trades are officially announced. Until then, pay attention to your news sources. TalkNats on X is a great place to go for your Nationals news; any trades will be reported as they happen on the account.
As far as that next game, the Nats will begin a three-game series against the red-hot Milwaukee Brewers at Nationals Park on Friday night at 6:45. Mitchell Parker (7-10, 4.91 ERA) will get the ball for the Nats, looking to make it three consecutive solid performances, he’ll get a chance to avenge his dreadful outing in Milwaukee against those Brewers just a couple weeks ago. Jose Quintana (7-4, 3.50 ERA) will get the ball for Milwaukee. The veteran left-hander will be a challenge for the Nationals’ lineup, which is going to need to perform to overcome the stellar Brewers’ team.
