The Washington Nationals needed that win yesterday and got it in a big way. They won 10-1 and won another series win while beating the first place team of the AL West. Tonight, the Nats begin a series against the Kansas City Royals of the AL Central.
On offense, the Nats went to the top of MLB once more in sole possession of 1st place for the most runs scored this season at an impressive 5.45 runs per game. With the Nats pitching giving up 4.66 earned runs per game, the difference is really those pesky unearned runs due to the errors. Overall, the Nats have a +13 run differential on the season. Since April 19th, the Nats are the 17th best in MLB in that span with a 4.16 ERA.
“Our lineup, 1-through-9, I thought they did a really good job of contributing — especially in that fourth inning, but [also] the entire game. Just kept passing the bat back to the next guy, and the baserunning was really good. We put a ton of pressure on them defensively, and it was a lot of fun to be a part of.”
Yesterday marked the 11th time the Nats offense has scored at least 10 runs in a game. That is a pace of every 6.5 games the Nationals have accomplished that feat.
Tonight’s game against the Kansas Royals has Andrew Alvarez as the Nats starting pitcher. Of note, this is Alvarez’s third start in place of Jake Irvin whose shoulder strain was only supposed to keep him out for 15-days. Irvin was place on the IL back on May 24. That’s been 22 days so far, and word is that Irvin is throwing weighted balls and soft tossing to build back strength in his shoulder and arm.
With PJ Poulin getting the start yesterday as the opener, and Miles Mikolas throwing 7.0 shutout innings as the bulk pitcher, manager Blake Butera only needed an inning from Clayton Beeter to closeout the 10-1 blowout win. Beeter hadn’t pitched since Tuesday and needed the work.
Kansas City Royals vs.Washington Nationals
Stadium: Nationals Park, Washington, D.C. 1st Pitch: 6:45 PM EDT TV: Nationals.TV Radio: 106.7 The Fan radio and via the MLB app. On Sirius/XM, tune to Channel 176 for the home broadcast and the road team is online only.
