Photo by Lynn G. for TalkNats
Click here to watch Nats win #24 on MASN via MLB.TV at 6:30 pm tonight with the rest of us. Just a quick reminder of what we are doing if this is your first time: As a group, we are going to be re-watching all 105 wins from the Nats 2019 season in chronological order at 6:30 pm each night. We will all try to sync up to the same point in the game, and this is a work in progress to maneuver to the same point in the game. Feel free to ask in the comments section where everyone is in the game so you can sync up. Many people are joining in at different points, and most people are not commenting — rather just following along.
The MLB.TV library is unlocked and free to everyone for the 2018-2019 season courtesy of MLB. This win #24 came in the 56th game in the 2019 season, and the Nats took the a 23-32 record into this game. This is where manager Dave Martinez started preaching “Go 1-0 every game” and eventually the Nats turned a losing record into a winning record. It took the Nats until June 28th to reach a winning record and they got to 12 games above .500 on August 21st. They dug themselves a deep hole and it took much longer to dig out of it.
This game marked the return of Anibal Sanchez from the 10-day IL from a leg injury and the team sent James Bourque back to the minors to make room for Sanchie. The irony of this game was Sanchez returning to the stadium mound where he resurrected his career with a brilliant 2018 campaign for the Atlanta Braves. They allowed him to “walk” over money, and their loss, was the Nationals gain.
With a win in this game, the Nats were going for their first series sweep of the season albeit this was just a rare two-game series.
Sanchez had a 2.83 ERA in 2018, and he parlayed that into a 2-year $19 million guaranteed deal with a 2021 team option with the Washington Nationals. What the Nationals are hoping for is a return to greatness for Anibal Sanchez after this IL stint as you cannot change the results in his first nine games in a Nationals’ uniform. Sanchez’s 5.10 ERA is not what general manager Mike Rizzo paid for, and Sanchez had to step-up in this game (which he did) just like the Patrick Corbin, Max Scherzer, Erick Fedde, and Stephen Strasburg did in their starts before him.
For the Braves in this game, they sent Kevin Gausman to the mound. He was a 2018 deadline acquisition from the Orioles. The right-handed Gausman had been equally disappointing for the Braves with his 4.33 ERA and 2-3 record.
The Nationals would head to Cincinnati for a weekend series after this game with a rare day-off before the start of a series, and much needed for a team that was grinding every game to erase that 12-game under .500 record that wasn’t even a week removed from their memory. Of course, May 23, 2019 will ever be part of Nationals history.
Washington Nationals vs. Atlanta Braves
Stadium: SunTrust Park, Atlanta, Georgia
