Photo by Sol Tucker for TalkNats
With a Patrick Corbin gem, the Washington Nationals have just won three games in a row. Corbin had been showing signs of figuring it out and he pitched into the 7th inning surrendering just one run. How he did it was a different formula they tried, and on this night, it worked.
The offense got going on a 2-run triple by Lane Thomas and they added two more runs for the 4-1 victory.
The bullpen closed out the game with Mason Thompson, Andres Machado, and Kyle Finnegan combining for a bullpen shutout.
It was a 0-0 game until the fourth inning when the Nats took the lead courtesy of Thomas, and Corbin kept the first place Brewers off of the bases for most of the night. For Corbin, his previous three starts showed promise until final inning meltdowns ruined each start. In this one, manager Dave Martinez quickly hooked him at the first sign of trouble.
This is a start that Corbin can build on. He threw more fastballs than normal, had no walks in this one, and kept his pitch count in check. He recorded 13 swing and misses in this one. His pitch efficiency allowed him to pitch one out into the seventh inning and earn this win. Only three Brewers reached the basepaths tonight off of the lefty.
“We talked about this before with [Corbin] that his fastball has been really good,” Martinez said. “It’s live. It’s moving. He can go in and out. And today, you saw what he can do when he utilizes it a lot.”
It worked as the lefty threw a mix of 4-seam and 2-seam (sinker) fastballs combined for 65 of his 92 pitches (70.6%) of his outing. Of the 65 fastballs, 42 were sinkers, and the home run he gave up on the final pitch of his outing was a sinker that didn’t sink. But for the most part, the reconfigured sequencing worked. It made his slider, of which he threw 22 (23.9%), and the few changeups he threw work even better. In all, he got seven strikeouts. The question going forward, will the next opponent in five days adjust to Corbin’s adjustments?
“I’m confident in all my pitches, if I locate it,” Corbin said. “But tonight, I felt like it was coming out pretty easy. … For me, getting ahead of guys, locating my fastball, attacking them and playing my slider off it has been my game, and I thought that was something tonight we did really well. … Tonight, it was great to see the results.”
The results worked I’d say
