The Washington Nationals had a chance to win another one in the 9th inning with the tying runs on-base, and James Wood and CJ Abrams yet to bat with one out. But there was no repeat button pushed even though rookies Brady House and Robert Hassell III got hits off closer Jhoan Duran, and unfortunately Wood and Abrams could not. The problem was actually 4⅓ innings earlier, truth be told, when the score was just a 2-0 deficit — and starter Mitchell Parker was not pulled from the game. How he was left in to give up four additional runs and that was the issue in this one.
If interim-manager Miguel Cairo just figured out how to pull his starting pitchers PRIOR to the self-destruction button going ‘kaboom’, he might really differentiate himself from his predecessor. Cairo does almost everything else better. The issue in pulling starters at the right point should be easier when you have a good bullpen. Other managers figure this out. The Nats began the 7th inning with a 6-1 deficit. The young Nats almost overcame that deficit as their bullpen threw another bullpen shutout.
There are just 33-games remaining in the season. This game has the Nats as +220 underdogs which are steep odds for any game. This is the final game of the season against the Phillies. Can Jake Irvin pitch a great game? We will see. The Phillies have lefty Ranger Suarez on the mound. He has been inconsistent of late, given all the wear of the long season.
Yes, we are 80 percent complete on the season, and for the playoff contenders this is the sprint to the finish nearing those final 30-games. After this game, the Nationals will head to New York City to start a three game series tomorrow against the Yankees.
❝This is what playoff baseball is all about. If we want to get to where we want to get to, we have to play in environments like this. … This is playoff baseball.❞
— Dylan Crews said after Friday’s game
The bullpen usage looks like this:
Here are your Nats’ WAR leaders with James Wood at +3.2, CJ Abrams at +3.1, MacKenzie Gore at +2.7. Add those up, and you get a total of +9.0 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 -8. That is actually quite the improvement over last year’s -18 for Abrams who is on pace to finish at -10.
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.
❝ [Parker] retired 10 of the first 11, and then all of a sudden there was a base hit. It’s kind of like, when they get on-base, the inning speeds up. Something that he needs to work on is slowing down when things start happening like that. Slow down, make your pitches, execute like you’ve been doing. ❞
— Miguel Cairo said after yesterday’s game
The Nats starting pitchers have a combined ERA of 5.09 and that places the starters at 2nd from last in MLB. The reliever’s ERA sits at a 5.66 and now the worst in baseball in ERA.
Here is how the starters rank by ERA:
No. 5 Starter: Cade Cavalli 2.82
No. 4 Starter: Mitchell Parker 6.03
No. 3 Starter: Brad Lord 3.46 (starting/relieving)
No. 2 Starter: Jake Irvin 5.30
No. 1 Starter: MacKenzie Gore 4.04
Washington Nationals vs. Philadelphia Phillies
Stadium: Citizens Bank Park
1st Pitch: 1:35 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 180 for the home broadcast and the road team is online only.
Line-up subject to change (without notice):
