The Washington Nationals had a successful Cinco de Mayo and Siete de Mayo, and they have a successful Ocho de Mayo? This quick two-game series with the Orioles wraps up tonight at Nats Park, and then the Nationals have a day-off tomorrow before a weekend series in Boston.
Manager Dave Martinez got the ace start from Trevor Williams last night against the best of the Orioles in Corbin Burnes, and tonight Martinez needs a repeat with Mitchell Parker who goes up against Kyle Bradish.
This is Parker’s fifth start. His first two were caught by Riley Adams with amazing results against the Dodgers and Astros. His most recent two starts were with Keibert Ruiz behind the plate, and the stats were not nearly as good. A coincidence? Maybe, but you have to think the rumblings that have followed Ruiz back to his days as a Dodgers’ minor league catcher is an issue with his defensive shortcomings. Look at Statcast, Baseball Prospectus or other sites that grade defense — and Ruiz is near the bottom every year. Why do they keep trotting him out there as the primary catcher? It can’t be because of his offense with that .127 BA and .395 OPS which is the lowest on the team. Yes, Eddie Rosario surpassed Ruiz yesterday in OPS.
With plans to get Josiah Gray back into a rehab assignment, you have to wonder if he can make it back in the month of May. Here’s what we think the schedule could look like going forward:
- Wednesday: Mitchell Parker vs. Orioles
- Thursday: Day-off May 9
- Friday: Patrick Corbin vs. Red Sox
- Saturday: Jake Irvin vs. Red Sox
- Sunday: MacKenzie Gore vs. Red Sox
- Monday: Trevor Williams vs. White Sox
- Tuesday: Parker vs. White Sox
- Wednesday: Corbin vs. White Sox
- Thursday: Day-off May 16
- Friday: Irvin vs. Phillies
- Saturday: Gore vs. Phillies
- Sunday: Williams vs. Phillies
- Monday: Parker vs. Twins
- Tuesday: Corbin vs. Twins
- Wednesday: Irvin vs. Twins
Your top Washington Nationals on the FanGraphs’ WAR leaderboard has CJ Abrams and Trevor Williams at the top at a +1.2 WAR followed by Luis Garcia Jr. at a +1.0 WAR. Hunter Harvey, MacKenzie Gore and Jacob Young at +0.9. Mitchell Parker, Jesse Winker and Jake Irvin are at +0.8. In total, 21 Nats’ players are in positive WAR and another four at a neutral 0.0 WAR.
“I’m not worried about any team but the Washington Nationals. When we come out and play like that, it’s fun. If we can continue to do that, it’s going to be really fun.”
— manager Dave Martinez said after yesterday’s game
The Nats starting pitchers have a combined ERA of 4.18 and 20th in MLB. The Nats are now 7 points from 14th best in baseball. The Nats have been slowly moving up in the rankings it seems week by week. At this point in the season, the ERA movement is in smaller increments due to the total innings increasing to the 200 inning mark. In the old-days that was a good workload for one starter in a season.
Here is how they rank:
No. 5 Starter: Patrick Corbin 6.45
No. 4 Starter: Jake Irvin 3.72
No. 3 Starter: MacKenzie Gore 3.44
No. 2 Starter: Mitchell Parker 2.53
No. 1 Starter: Trevor Williams 1.96
Baltimore Orioles vs. Washington Nationals
Stadium: Nationals Park, Washington, D.C.
1st Pitch: 6:45 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 on Channel 184, and the opposing team on only online.
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 36:
The Nationals lost on 05/08 on the road resulting in a record of 14-22. Box Score / Standings
The Senators won on 05/31 on the road against the Red Sox in Fenway with a 12-0 win and a complete game from Curly Ogden, resulting in a record of 17-19. Box Score / Standings
