The Home for Washington Nationals Game Talk

Today’s performance was all too predictable, yet all too frustrating in the same sense. Ranger Suarez set a new career high in strikeouts with 11 of them over seven scoreless innings against the Nationals this afternoon, and they just had no answer. All except for Jacob Young, who went 2-2 off the lefty, but was completely left out to dry in this one by the rest of the offense.

While we’re on the topic of being left out to dry, Jake Irvin did not do the Nats’ bullpen any favors today, getting pulled with one out in the third inning, forcing the bullpen to account for 17 outs. Luckily, they completed what was an excellent bullpen week with 5⅔ scoreless innings of work, keeping the offense in the game all afternoon.

Was the bigger game in Fredericksburg or Nationals Park yesterday? The Washington Nationals’ bullpen has looked like a completely different group the last two games, and yesterday, they were better than they’ve maybe been all season. MacKenzie Gore gave the Nats a shortened start as the Mets got to him and his pitch count pretty early in the game, knocking him out in the fifth inning. Normally, this would spell disaster for the Nats, having to rely on 14 outs from the bullpen, but all they did yesterday was throw 4⅔ scoreless, 1-hit innings to allow the offense to run away with a series-clinching victory.

Simultaneous to James Wood hitting a 3-run home run in the 8th inning was №1 draft pick and prospect, Eli Willits, hitting his first RBI in his first pro game just 55 miles south in Fredericksburg, Virginia. The 17-year-old finished with a 3-for-4 game, SB, 2 RBIs, and more. An absolutely huge day for the Washington Nationals organization.

Ladies and gentlemen, the Washington Nationals had a bullpen last night. And a great one, at that. Not to discredit Brad Lord, for his first 5.0 innings, he was tremendous. He just ran into trouble in the sixth, muddying his stat line for the night. Not sure why he was left out there to put four base runners on, of which three scored, in quick order. The offense wasn’t great, but they scored five runs, and did just enough against Mets’ starter Kodai Senga to get a big win, and evened this series at a game apiece.

It was the Nats’ bullpen, covering 3⅔ innings of scoreless 1-hit baseball, that saved this game from what was headed towards self-destruction. A job well done by Cole Henry, Shinnosuke Ogasawara (小笠原 慎之介), Clayton Beeter, and Jose A. Ferrer.

Well, that was depressing. The Nationals have struggled all year against lefties, we know that. But David Peterson just seems to be in a class completely by himself. In two starts against the Nats this year, he’s thrown 17 innings of one-run ball. Another stat I saw last night that made my head spin was that the Nationals are now 1-13 all-time when facing Peterson. That’s a different kind of dominance; that’s ownership at the highest level.