The Washington Nationals lost last night and have now dropped 7-of-8 games in this stretch. From that great 20-game run the team was on, they have sunk to 13-games below .500. On any given night some main part of their game is off. Last night it was an offense that just scored 1-run, and the team had it’s chances and did not capitalize. They also hit their longballs to the long part of the park. Two went to the fence and were caught — they were the longest shots of the game — yet no runs, and the Astros clubbed four homers to the pull-side in each case in much shorter distances. It proves once again that it’s not about how far — just whether it is far enough.
The Nats have Josiah Gray tonight and MacKenzie Gore in Thursday’s finale. The lefty, Framber Valdez and his tiny 2.36 ERA go tonight for the Astros. Gray will have to be at his best for the Nats to have a chance of winning this.
The thrill of the 2019 World Series was quickly replaced by the agony of defeat last night. But hey, 2019 was a great year and was only 3.62 years ago.
“It was pretty cool going back out there, sitting in the same chair from Game 7. It’s always fun to come here. The fans are great. It’s loud. It’s electric. Overall, other than the hitting portion and not driving in runs, I thought we played pretty well.”
— manager Dave Martinez said after yesterday’s game
The Nats starting pitchers have a combined ERA of 4.52 for 18th best in MLB. The Nats are just 0.30 from 12th best in MLB in ERA.
Here is how they rank:
No. 5 Starter: Jake Irvin 5.81 ERA
No. 4 Starter: Patrick Corbin 4.81
No. 3 Starter: Trevor Williams 4.11
No. 2 Starter: MacKenzie Gore 4.04
No. 1 Starter: Josiah Gray 3.00
Here is your Baseball Savant Statcast link for the game.
Washington Nationals vs. Houston Astros
Stadium: Minute Maid Park, Houston, Texas
1st Pitch: 8:10 pm EDT
TV: MASN
Radio: 106.7 The Fan radio and via the MLB app
Line-up subject to change (without notice):
