The Washington Nationals already had Joan Adon with the team yesterday. They said he was there as part of the taxi squad. Well, was that really the whole truth? Today we found out that Adon would be pitching tonight as Josiah Gray was scratched and placed on the 15-day IL with a right elbow/forearm flexor strain retroactive to April 6.
Has Gray been pitching through pain? His 14.04 ERA after two horrific starts was painful for anyone watching as well as worrisome that something was physically wrong with Gray. For a player who has never been on the IL before, he had been a model of consistency in taking the ball every scheduled start. We asked the question about Gray’s health, even though he did not indicate any physical issue after his last start. Health is always in the myriad of possibilities. But it’s also possible that the pain just came on suddenly. More to follow on this.
“Honestly, I’m embarrassed to come out here and do that for the guys. It doesn’t feel good. It doesn’t sit right with me. I know that I deserve better. They deserve better.”
— Gray said after his last start
Your top Washington Nationals on the FanGraphs’ WAR leaderboard has a new surprise leader with Ildemaro Vargas at +0.4 on top followed by CJ Abrams, Hunter Harvey, and Trevor Williams at +0.3.
The biggest mover on the WAR chart is Lane Thomas going from -0.4 on Friday to +0.2 last night after another promising game. This is the constant reminder of small sample sizes. Another player who stepped up last night was Trey Lipscomb. He had a tough weekend and his batting average plummeted. After a 3-hit and 3-stolen base game last night, he said in the postgame that, “I belong here.” In fact, Lipscomb is the first rookie in Nationals’ history to record the 3 H and 3 SB feat in one game. By the way, one of the steals was a steal of home.
The Nats didn’t score first, but they sure poured it on for their first laugher of the season with an 8-1 winner. Manager Dave Martinez was able to go to his “B” bullpen, and the team finally won the first game of a series. They also kept their spot in third place in the NL East with a 4-6 record, tied with the Mets.
“We’ve got to come out and score first. We’ve got to score early and put pressure on the other team.”
— manager Dave Martinez said
The Nats starting pitchers have a combined ERA of 6.35 for 29th in MLB. Obviously sample sizes are miniscule at this point. Still a lot of work for the Nationals to improve in the rankings.
Here is how they rank:
No. 5 Starter: Josiah Gray 14.04
No. 4 Starter: Patrick Corbin 6.97
No. 3 Starter: Jake Irvin 5.73
No. 2 Starter: MacKenzie Gore 4.09
No. 1 Starter: Trevor Williams 2.61
Washington Nationals vs. San Francisco Giants
Stadium: Oracle Park, San Francisco, California
1st Pitch: 9:45 pm EDT
TV: MASN
Radio: 106.7 The Fan radio and via the MLB app; In Spanish on DC 87.7 FM and La Pantera 100.7 FM/1220 AM. On Sirius/XM, the Nats will be online only, and the opposing team on Channel 185.
Line-up subject to change (without notice):
TalkNats is Celebrating the 5 and 100 year anniversaries of World Series Wins by providing Game-by-Game Summaries.
Game 11:
The 2019 Nationals won on 4/10 against the Phillies in a 15-1 blow-out and a Jeremy Hellickson gem. The Nats improved to a record of 6-5 on that date. Box Score / Standings
The 1924 Senators lost on 04/26 against the Philadelphia Athletics resulting in a Senators’ record of 4-7 on that date. Box Score / Standings
