The Washington Nationals went from San Francisco to a short trip across the bay to Oakland. With Oakland’s planned move to Sacramento before landing in Las Vegas, this could be the final series for the Nats in the Oakland Coliseum. The Nats are coming off of a nice series win in San Francisco. They have a chance to get above .500 in this series, and as they say, it all begins with a Nats’ win tonight.
The team made the expected roster move adding Amos Willingham as an extra arm in the bullpen as they decide what to do with a starter that could be needed on Monday or Tuesday unless they decide to pitch a bullpen game. Also, when the team optioned Drew Millas back on Wednesday evening, they found out that Keibert Ruiz is not feeling better from a bout with the flu. Your backup catcher tonight is Ildemaro Vargas.
If the team uses the days-off, here is the upcoming schedule:
- Friday: Jake Irvin vs. Oakland
- Saturday: MacKenzie Gore vs. Oakland
- Sunday: Trevor Williams vs. Oakland
- Monday: Either Patrick Corbin vs. Dodgers or a callup
- Tuesday: ? vs. Dodgers or Corbin
- Wednesday: Irvin vs. Dodgers
- Thursday: Day-off
- Friday: Gore vs. Houston
- Saturday: Williams vs. Houston
- Sunday: Corbin vs. Houston
- Monday: Day-off
- Tuesday: Irvin vs. Dodgers
- Wednesday: Gore vs. Dodgers
- Thursday: Williams vs. Dodgers
- Friday: Corbin vs. Miami
- Saturday: ? vs. Miami
- Sunday: Irvin vs. Miami
- Monday: Gore vs. Miami
The Nats have three spots to fill for starters on Monday April 15 or Tuesday April 16 in Los Angeles versus the Dodgers, Saturday April 27 in Miami, and Thursday May 2nd in Texas. Adon would not be available to be called up on Tuesday except due to an injury. Would it be Rutledge who just hurt his ankle? Would it be a bullpen game? Or what about Mitchell Parker on extra rest? He is on the 40-man roster. Who else would you suggest? Of course Adon makes sense for the April 27 game in Miami. Does Rizzo have a move for a veteran to acquire on an opt-out?
Your top Washington Nationals on the FanGraphs’ WAR leaderboard has CJ Abrams back on top of the team leaderboard with a +0.4 WAR and fractionally ahead of Hunter Harvey at +0.4. Joey Gallo, Jesse Winker, and Trevor Williams are all at +0.3.
The team will face a right-hander in Paul Blackburn who has pitched two scoreless starts to begin his season with a stingy 0.54 WHIP. This is the same pitcher who has pitched the rest of his career to a 4.72 ERA.
“We’ve got to come out and score first. We’ve got to score early and put pressure on the other team.”
— manager Dave Martinez said
The Nats starting pitchers have a combined ERA of 6.53 for 29th in MLB. Obviously sample sizes are miniscule at this point. Still a lot of work for the Nationals to improve in the rankings.
Here is how they rank:
No. 5 Starter: Josiah Gray 14.04
No. 4 Starter: Patrick Corbin 8.44
No. 3 Starter: Jake Irvin 5.73
No. 2 Starter: MacKenzie Gore 4.09
No. 1 Starter: Trevor Williams 2.61
Washington Nationals vs. Oakland Athletics
Stadium: Oakland Coliseum, Oakland, California
1st Pitch: 9:40 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, the Nats will be online only, and the opposing team on Channel 187.
Line-up subject to change (without notice):
TalkNats is Celebrating the 5 and 100 year anniversaries of World Series Wins by providing Game-by-Game Summaries.
Game 13:
The 2019 Nationals won on 4/13 against the Pirates and improved their record to 7-6 on that date. Box Score / Standings
The 1924 Senators lost on 04/29 against the Boston Red Sox resulting in a Senators’ record of 5-8 on that date. Box Score / Standings
