The Washington Nationals had a short start of 2 1/3 innings on Sunday from Cade Cavalli — and that immediately stressed an over-worked bullpen. Besides Brad Lord taking on the long-man role, the Nats had two one-and-done appearances by both Eddy Yean and Cole Henry meaning they were called-up and pitched in the game and after the game were sent back to the minor leagues.
For today, Andrew Alvarez is scheduled to start — but the longest he’s lasted in a game this season is 4 2/3 innings. He is pitching on an extra day’s rest. And Foster Griffin is scheduled to pitch the series finale tomorrow. Zack Littell pitched on Saturday and is scheduled to pitch on Friday. Cade Cavalli is serving a suspension and is due to pitch on Sunday. Miles Mikolas will hear on his appeal today. If his suspension is reduced to three games, he can pitch on Saturday.
How does manager Blake Butera set his bullpen today with what is expected that Lord is not available, and you would rather not use Carson Palmquist or Riley Cornelio — and in fairness if the Nats have a lead, would you trust Cornelio? The Nats activated LHP Matt Krook after he officially “arrived” at Nationals Park today after he was claimed off outright waivers from the Athletics three days ago.
Washington is 36-29 (.554) since April 25 and are 11-4-1 in their last 16 series since May 12. The Nationals have 47 wins, the most by a Nationals club prior to the All-Star break since the 2019 Nationals recorded 47 wins before the break…The next highest win total belongs to the 2018 Nationals (48 wins). With a win today, the Nats could make some team history with another series win and the 48th win of the season.
❝I’ve been using the word ‘impressive’ too many times already, but I have no other way to describe [James Wood]. What he does, it’s fun to be in the dugout watching him do his thing. When he hits it — and then looks in the dugout at his teammates — that fires everybody up, it’s pretty cool❞
— manager Blake Butera said after the game yesterday
On offense, the Nats have the 1st in MLB for the most runs scored this season at 497 runs, and that is an impressive 5.40 runs per game. With the Nats pitching giving up 4.79 earned runs per game, the difference is really those pesky unearned runs due to the errors. Overall, the Nats have a +10 run differential on the season.
The FanGraphs WAR chart is now large in its sample size. You can certainly start to extrapolate the numbers for the full-season. The OAA defense stat is now giving us a picture of what the Nats have — and don’t have.
Pittsburgh Pirates 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 179 for the home broadcast and the road team is online only.
