The Washington Nationals got crushed last night. CJ Abrams showed up against the team that traded him almost a year ago. Juan Soto showed up even bigger for the team that acquired him in that Abrams trade. The only Nats pitcher who showed up was Joe LaSorsa who made his Nats’ debut last night. In the end, the Nats were crushed 13-3.
Patrick Corbin gave up 7-runs last night — but Thaddeus Ward and Chad Kuhl said, “Hold my beer.” If you go by ERA, Kuhl had a 36.00 ERA for the game, Ward at 13.53, and Corbin at 12.60. La Sorsa put up a 0.00. The big difference was Kuhl and Ward entered in low lev situations. Kind of pathetic to watch the bullpen give up six runs in just three innings.
Matt Waldron, a knuckleballer, was just called up, and most of these Nats have never experienced hitting off of a knuckler before. They get to face him tonight, and the Padres will face Josiah Gray who has been struggling for about a month — just like the Nats.
“His stuff is good. He just falls behind. Then he’s got to make pitches, and his misses are almost right down the middle of the plate. We’ve got to talk to him about utilizing both sides of the plate. But his fastball is good. He’s hanging a lot of sliders now. But the biggest thing is that he’s falling behind a lot.”
— manager Dave Martinez said yesterday of Kuhl
The Nats starting pitchers have a combined ERA of 4.63 for 20th best in MLB. Corbin’s poor start raised the entire season’s ERA for the starters by 0.10.
Here is how they rank:
No. 5 Starter: Patrick Corbin 5.32
No. 4 Starter: Jake Irvin 4.71
No. 3 Starter: Trevor Williams 4.14
No. 2 Starter: MacKenzie Gore 4.02
No. 1 Starter: Josiah Gray 3.64
Here is your Baseball Savant Statcast Link for the game.
Washington Nationals vs. San Diego Padres
Stadium: Petco Park, San Diego, California
1st Pitch: 8:40 pm EDT
TV: MASN2
Radio: 106.7 The Fan radio and via the MLB app
