The Washington Nationals wrap-up their August schedule while currently mired in a 7-game losing streak — and Brad Lord is the pitcher the Nationals pin their hopes on to be the stopper. On the 8th day, they need Lord to be the ace.
After yesterday’s pregame concerning news that MacKenzie Gore was placed on the 15-day IL with left shoulder inflammation, the Nats now have to deal with another injury for their top pitching prospect, Jarlin Susana, after he was pulled after 1⅓ innings yesterday with an apparent arm injury at Double-A. This is after the Nats had already lost Travis Sykora this season. Sykora is their other top pitching prospect as he suffered a UCL tear requiring TJ surgery. And MLB pitcher DJ Herz is in the middle of his TJ protocol.
With today’s game, there are just 27-games remaining in this season. The Nats have only 53-wins at this point in the season.
Sage words here from interim manager Miguel Cairo, but why are we saying this when the season is over 80 percent completed? Again, what is your hitting coach, Darnell Coles, doing and teaching?
❝
— Interim manager Miguel Cairo said after yesterday’s game
It’s about preparation. We still have young kids — young and talented baseball players here. They’re learning, but you’ve got to go out there and execute your plan. The pitchers don’t dictate what you’re going to swing at, first of all. You’ve got to have a plan. If it’s not your pitch, okay, let it go. But if it’s in the strike zone, you’ve got to be ready to hit.
❞
The bullpen usage looks like this:
Here are your Nats’ WAR leaders with CJ Abrams at +3.4, James Wood at +3.3, MacKenzie Gore at +2.9. Add those up, and you get a total of +9.6 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 +13, 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 -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.
❝
— Miguel Cairo said after yesterday’s game about starter Jake Irvin, and this comment kind of incapsulates the entire season for the pitching staff.
It was just one pitch. The only difference was one pitch.
❞
The Nats starting pitchers have a combined ERA of 5.23 and that places the starters at 2nd from last in MLB. The reliever’s ERA sits at a 5.55 and now the worst in baseball in ERA.
Here is how the starters rank by ERA:
No. 5 Starter: Cade Cavalli 5.11
No. 4 Starter: Mitchell Parker 5.94
No. 3 Starter: Brad Lord 3.84 (starting/relieving)
No. 2 Starter: Jake Irvin 5.42
No. 1 Starter: MacKenzie Gore 4.15
Tampa Bay Rays vs. Washington Nationals
Stadium: Nationals Park, Washington, D.C.
1st Pitch: 1:35 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 178 for the home broadcast and the road team is online only.
Line-up subject to change (without notice):
