The Washington Nationals lost a heartbreaker last night when runner’s obstruction was not called. So instead of possibly a rubber game tonight against the Houston Astros, the Nats are seeking a much needed win to salvage a game in this series and avoid the dreaded sweep. The team has now dropped 8-of-9 games in this stretch, and a season-low of 14-games below .500. To cap it all off, the Astros did not schedule a day-game for a getaway game which means the Nats won’t arrive back to their residences in the D.C. area until 3-to-4 am in the wee hours of Friday morning.
The Nats have MacKenzie Gore in this season finale, and the next time these teams see each other will be in February at the Ballpark of the Palm Beaches. The Astros have the right-handed Cristian Javier.
The thrill of the 2019 World Series was quickly replaced by the agony of defeat last night after a 3-run ninth inning comeback and then to lose on a non-call on the dreaded runner’s obstruction was more than manager Dave Martinez could take. You cannot blame him. The umpiring continues to be so one-sided. It has to turn around, right?
“I want to talk about how proud I am of the boys playing the way they played. They came back. They played their butts off to come back, to get back in the game. They do everything right. I’m proud of the boys, how they played.”
— manager Dave Martinez said after yesterday’s game
“ … I can’t do nothing about those umpires, I really can’t. Like I said, they need to take a look at that and understand that [the umpire] screwed that play up. That’s all I’m going to say about it. I’m done with it. If they’re not going to fix it, then we move on, and that’s it.”
The Nats starting pitchers have a combined ERA of 4.53 for 18th best in MLB. The Nats are just 0.37 from 11th 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 3.19
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):
