The Washington Nationals evened the series last night. On a getaway afternoon game at Nationals Park, the Nats have a chance to return some disappointment to the visiting team on this day. If MacKenzie Gore can be the ace, this might make for a great chance for the Nats to win this series ahead of their trip up I-95 to Philadelphia.
For the Mets, they have a lefty, Sean Manaea, on the mound, so expect interim-manager Miguel Cairo to counter with some more right-handed hitters in his lineup for this game.
❝Every day I just want to come here and win — no matter what. … I want to bring this team to a new culture — and win every single day.❞
— Dylan Crews said after yesterday’s game
❝Anytime you can win a one-run ballgame is huge. That’s what makes great teams great. … That’s a huge win for us right there, and we couldn’t have done it without the bullpen.❞
The bullpen usage looks like this:
Here are your Nats’ WAR leaders with James Wood at +3.0, CJ Abrams at +3.0, MacKenzie Gore at +2.9. Add those up, and you get a total of +8.9 WAR. The issue is the large gap between those players and the next tier, and of course the negative tier after them of which many of those players are off the roster.
On defense, the OAA stats showed some improvement with a good defensive game yesterday. Jacob Young leads the team at +12, and CJ Abrams is on the opposite end at -9. That is actually quite the improvement over last year’s -18 for Abrams who is on pace to finish at -12.
These are your stats leaders on BBRef. There are certainly some surprises on there — good and not so good. The issue is the consistency on this team.
“That was huge. Cole Henry coming in and just slamming the door, not giving up any more runs, that was huge for the momentum for us.”
— Brad Lord said after yesterday’s game
The Nats starting pitchers have a combined ERA of 5.04 and that places the starters at 2nd from last in MLB. The reliever’s ERA sits at a 5.77 and now the worst in baseball in ERA.
Here is how the starters rank by ERA:
No. 5 Starter: Cade Cavalli 2.20
No. 4 Starter: Mitchell Parker 5.83
No. 3 Starter: Brad Lord 3.46 (starting/relieving)
No. 2 Starter: Jake Irvin 5.30
No. 1 Starter: MacKenzie Gore 4.04
New York Mets vs. Washington Nationals
Stadium: Nationals Park, Washington, D.C.
1st Pitch: 4:05 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 180 for the home broadcast and the road team is online only.
Line-up subject to change (without notice):
