The Washington Nationals need Jake Irvin to continue the streak of great pitching performances in this homestand. With dominance from MacKenzie Gore, DJ Herz, and Mitchell Parker, it is Irvin’s turn to step up.
Since June 6, the Nats’ starting rotation has an ERA of 1.41, the best in the Majors. This is how the Nats have won 8-0f-9 games in this current heater they are on. With a Nats win tonight, the team will be back to the key .500 level. So yes, this is a big game for the Nats.
With the day-off yesterday, manager Dave Martinez has a rested bullpen but certainly he has to try to spread the innings better among his starters as Derek Law is carrying far too much of the weight of the bullpen with 43.0 innings logged with Hunter Harvey at 36.0 innings, Dylan Floro just over 34 innings and closer, Kyle Finnegan, just over 30 innings. Contrastly, Tanner Rainey only has 17.0 innings.
Good news on Jesse Winker as he returns to the lineup today after he tweaked his knee on Saturday and came out of that game. His MRI showed no structural damage and it sounded like he would be out for a few games. Martinez hinted that Harold Ramirez would be up soon but he did not get the call today even after the team got James Wood back from the IL and promoted top prospect Dylan Crews to Triple-A. In a corresponding, Daylen Lile got a promotion to Double-A Harrisburg where they were already short an outfielder with Robert Hassell III going to the IL with what we sourced as another wrist injury.
With Trevor Williams on the 15-day IL, he pitched last on May 30. When he was placed on the IL, Martinez told the media that he would be shutdown for a period of tw0-week. We are well beyond the two-week mark now. Do we get an update today? Has that shutdown been extended?
True to what we had in our schedule, Josiah Gray will indeed get another rehab start with Double-A Harrisburg tomorrow. He is expected to throw 75-80 pitches, and was supposed to have one minor league start after that — but today Martinez was no longer willing to say that is still the case which could mean that Gray’s next start is back in Washington’s rotation. On top of that, Cade Cavalli will go back with Wilmington and make another rehab start.
Here’s what we think the starting rotation could look like going forward without Gray, Williams, and Cavalli:
- Tuesday: Jake Irvin vs. Diamondbacks
- Wednesday: Patrick Corbin vs. Diamondbacks (Josiah Gray rehab start in Harrisburg)
- Thursday: MacKenzie Gore vs. Diamondbacks
- Friday: DJ Herz vs. Rockies (Cade Cavalli rehab start in Wilmington)
- Saturday: Mitchell Parker vs. Rockies
- Sunday: Irvin vs. Rockies
- Monday: Corbin vs. Padres
- Tuesday: Gore vs. Padres
- Wednesday: Herz vs. Padres
- Thursday: Day-off June 27
- Friday: Parker vs. Rays
- Saturday: Irvin vs. Rays
- Sunday: Corbin vs. Rays
- Monday: Gore vs. Mets
- Tuesday: Herz vs. Mets
- Wednesday: Parker vs. Mets
- Thursday: Irvin vs. Mets
Your top Washington Nationals on the FanGraphs’ WAR leaderboard has MacKenzie Gore at +1.9, and Jake Irvin with a +1.8 WAR. Trevor Williams is at +1.7 WAR, and Jacob Young reclaims the top spot with +1.4 for position players with CJ Abrams right behind him at +1.3 WAR. Mitchell Parker is at the +1.3 mark. In total, 21 Nats’ players are in positive WAR and another five are at a neutral 0.0 WAR. Eddie Rosario drops to -0.8 WAR and Keibert Ruiz is at -1.0 WAR.
“This weekend was an all-around good weekend. Pitching was good. We scored runs when we needed to, and the defense played well. We’ve got to clean up some things, but I’m very proud of the way the guys played.”
— manager Dave Martinez said after Sunday’s game
The Nats starting pitchers have a combined ERA of 3.77 and 12th in MLB. The Nats are 5 points from being a Top-10 starting rotation by ERA. Look at those rankings of teams.
Here is how they rank, and if we insert DJ Herz, he would be ahead of Patrick Corbin at a 3.77 ERA:
No. 5 Starter: Patrick Corbin 5.84
No. 4 Starter: MacKenzie Gore 3.24
No. 3 Starter: Mitchell Parker 3.06
No. 2 Starter: Jake Irvin 3.00
No. 1 Starter: Trevor Williams 2.22
Washington Nationals vs. Arizona Diamondbacks
Stadium: Nationals Park, Washington, D.C.
1st Pitch: 6:45 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, tune to Channel 179 for the home broadcast and the road team is online only.
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 72:
The Nationals won on 06/19 at home against the Phillies resulting in a record of 34-38. But you knew this already. Box Score / Standings
The Senators lost on 07/05 at home against the Yankees resulting in a record of 41-31. Box Score / Standings
