The Washington Nationals took care of business yesterday for a happy flight to Miami last night. It was a themed trip in Miami whites, and several of the players did not have to buy clothes as they just pulled clothes right out of their closet. The players looked great, and Stone Garrett and Cole Irvin pulled off Crockett and Tubbs well in a Miami Vice sort of way. This is the first time these two division rivals have faced each other since Spring Training.
Today’s game will have the Nats facing a familiar lefty with Jesus Luzardo going for the Marlins. You might remember that Luzardo was one of the key prospects the Nats traded in a blockbuster deal to acquire Sean Doolittle. At one point, Luzardo was the top lefty pitching prospect in baseball, but injuries caught up with him and he has been one of those young pitchers trying to figure it out. The Nats have their top pitcher, Josiah Gray, going tonight, and he brings a Nats offense with him that destroyed the Mets yesterday.
“Don’t let anybody fool you: The Washington Nationals are not a bad team. They can hit, they can throw. They’ve gotten a lot better since last year.
— Mets’ outfielder Brandon Nimmo
If you … don’t execute … it doesn’t matter who you’re playing in the big leagues — you’re going to lose.”
The Nats starters ERAs are a combined 4.40, and Patrick Corbin last night just did not have his filthy slider working. He only threw it 21 percent of the time and only for just three strikes on the pitch. As they say, the fish just weren’t biting — but the difference between this game and last year is that Corbin threw his improved sinker to induce contact, and his fielders made almost all of the plays to get him out of trouble. At one point, Corbin was facing bases loaded in high leverage and the play of the game happened as Keibert Ruiz back-picked the rookie Francisco Alvarez and Dom Smith applied the tag to get Corbin out of danger. It was one of the defensive plays of the year in a 1-1 game.
Here is how they rank:
No. 5 Starter: Jake Irvin 4.11 ERA
No. 4 Starter: Patrick Corbin 4.65
No. 3 Starter: Trevor Williams 4.23
No. 2 Starter: MacKenzie Gore 3.29
No. 1 Starter: Josiah Gray 2.96
The Marlins are being crushed by injuries this past week, and you can read this injury report. While the Nats have several players on the injury report, some teams have the depth to replace players. Now the Marlins still have a good lineup with the offseason acquisition of batting champ Luis Arraez, and they also added free agent Jean Segura too, but they started the season with a nice hot streak and got cooled off in May. It’s the Nats job to cool them off further.
Here is your Baseball Savant Statcast link for the game.
Washington Nationals vs. Miami Marlins
Stadium: Nationals Park, Washington, D.C.
1st Pitch: 6:40 pm EDT
TV: MASN
Radio: 106.7 The Fan radio and via the MLB app
Line-up subject to change (without notice):
