The Washington Nationals experienced some highs in their season just from the past week, and now this weekend the team has been humbled by the hot Pittsburgh Pirates, a team in first place in the NL Central. Today’s game is officially in a weather delay. Will it be played?
The Nats had won two series in a row coming into this weekend’s slate, and the Pirates already won this series with the Nats just looking for a salvage win. It will be Josiah Gray who has to step in as the stopper after last night’s embarrassing 16-1 loss that also prompted a DFA of Anthony Banda and a callup of Andres Machado as the first of what could be part of more moves in manager Dave Martinez‘s “B” bullpen. In the current bullpen configuration, there are no lefties.
“It’s always tough when you have to designate somebody. But we felt like we needed somebody that can give us some length given the doubleheader, and where we’re at pitching-wise. We had to let go of Banda, and we thought Machado could be that guy. He’s pitched well down at Triple-A.”
— manager Dave Martinez in his pre-game media session
“We need guys that can get outs right now. In a perfect world, having a couple lefties would be great, but we’ve got guys down there who are capable of getting lefties out. I think Machado is one of them.”
The Nats starters ERAs are a combined 4.89 after taking a huge hit from Chad Kuhl‘s eight-run trouncing. That 9.41 ERA from Kuhl cannot continue. General manager Mike Rizzo has to figure things out with Kuhl. He has no minor league options remaining which means his fate could be that he gets another start, a DFA, IL move, or gets moved into the bullpen. The Nats’ braintrust has to figure this out.
Here is how they rank:
No. 5 Starter: Chad Kuhl 9.41 ERA
No. 4 Starter: Patrick Corbin 5.74
No. 3 Starter: Trevor Williams 4.10
No. 2 Starter: MacKenzie Gore 3.00
No. 1 Starter: Josiah Gray 2.93
If today’s game going on at some point today, it looks like Cory Abbott, Joan Adon, and Jake Irvin could all be candidates for a Wednesday spot start for the team, but maybe something else can happen if they decide to remove Kuhl from the rotation. MacKenzie Gore is scheduled to pitch tomorrow and Trevor Williams on Tuesday. Again, we will see what Mother Nature says.
Here is your Baseball Savant Statcast link for the game.
Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Washington Nationals
Stadium: Nationals Park, Washington, D.C.
1st Pitch: 1:35 pm EDT
TV: MASN
Radio: 106.7 The Fan radio and via the MLB app
Line-up subject to change (without notice):
