The Washington Nationals are mired in a three-game losing skid, and MacKenzie Gore is tasked with being the stopper. The will be facing a lefty on the Phillies side giving manager Dave Martinez the opportunity to change his lineup to add a few more right-handed batters.
The defense for the Nats looks much better, and Riley Adams will be Gore’s catcher in this game. The Nationals scored two runs in yesterday’s game to get the team back to scoring. But they have not hit a home run in six days.
With plans to get Josiah Gray back into a rehab assignment shortly, it looks like the team will have Cade Cavalli headed out to the FCL to get his rehab going. Cavalli could be ready before Gray. We will see how they set up a future rotation. Here’s what we think the schedule could look like going forward:
- Saturday: MacKenzie Gore vs. Phillies
- Sunday: Trevor Williams vs. Phillies
- Monday: Mitchell Parker vs. Twins
- Tuesday: Patrick Corbin vs. Twins
- Wednesday: Jake Irvin vs. Twins
- Thursday: Day-off May 23
- Friday: Gore vs. Mariners
- Saturday: Williams vs. Mariners
- Sunday: Parker vs. Mariners
- Monday: Corbin vs. Atlanta
- Tuesday: Irvin vs. Atlanta
- Wednesday: Gore vs. Atlanta
- Thursday: Williams vs. Atlanta
- Friday: Parker vs. Cleveland
- Saturday June 1: Corbin vs. Cleveland
- Sunday: Irvin vs. Cleveland
- Monday: Gore vs. Mets
- Tuesday: Williams vs. Mets
- Wednesday: Parker vs. Mets
Your top Washington Nationals on the FanGraphs’ WAR leaderboard has Trevor Williams at +1.2 WAR, and Jake Irvin, MacKenzie Gore and CJ Abrams near the top at a +1.1. In total, 22 Nats’ players are in positive WAR and another seven at a neutral 0.0 WAR. Unfortunately, Keibert Ruiz has moved to the -1.0 WAR line at the quarter-pole of the season. Can he turn that around like Eddie Rosario?
“We had a chance there at the end. We had the tying run at the plate, and Winker had a good swing. Just didn’t get it all. It could’ve been a lot worse. But we settled down and made it close. We’ve got to start hitting.”
— manager Dave Martinez said after yesterday’s game
The Nats starting pitchers have a combined ERA of 4.04 and 15th in MLB. The Nats are now 18 points from 13th best in baseball. The team has been slowly moving up in the rankings it seems week by week.
Here is how they rank:
No. 5 Starter: Patrick Corbin 5.59
No. 4 Starter: Jake Irvin 3.91
No. 3 Starter: MacKenzie Gore 3.38
No. 2 Starter: Mitchell Parker 3.09
No. 1 Starter: Trevor Williams 1.94
Washington Nationals vs. Philadelphia Phillies
Stadium: Citizens Bank Ballpark, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
1st Pitch: 6:05 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, and the opposing team on Channel 181.
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 44:
The Nationals lost on 05/17 at home against the Cubs resulting in a record of 18-26 Trea Turner returned from the IL with the broken fingers. Box Score / Standings
The Senators lost on 06/09 on the road against the Cleveland Indians resulting in a record of 21-23. Box Score / Standings
