The Washington Nationals were tied at 0-0 to enter the bottom of the 7th inning last night. Manager Dave Martinez went to Jacob Barnes who got lit up quickly, but maybe the game was lost by the fact the Nats had baserunners they could not score — and baserunners erased on mistakes. The Nats had their chances and squandered them.
A shame that Jake Irvin‘s gem went to waste in the 2-0 loss on Tuesday. But as they say, you can’t win them all. Baseball will always having you think you should have won those close games. Today, the Nats send MacKenzie Gore to the mound to hopefully replicate what Irvin and Mitchell Parker did to the Braves through their first 6.0 innings of work.
Expect Martinez to have his full bullpen available tonight except for Derek Law. The only relievers used last night were Barnes and Law. A benefit of losing in the top of the 9th inning on the road saves you from pitching the bottom of the 9th inning.
The one-third completion mark in the season happens tonight. This will give you a good indication on some of the players with a large sample size. To extrapolate for players who have been here for the full season, just multiply their numbers by three. Don’t do that with averages of course.
Here’s what we think the starting rotation could look like going forward:
- Wednesday: MacKenzie Gore vs. Atlanta
- Thursday: Trevor Williams vs. Atlanta
- Friday: Patrick Corbin vs. Cleveland
- Saturday June 1: Mitchell Parker vs. Cleveland
- Sunday: Jake Irvin vs. Cleveland
- Monday: Gore vs. Mets
- Tuesday: Williams vs. Mets
- Wednesday: Corbin vs. Mets
- Thursday: Parker vs. Braves
- Friday: Irvin vs. Braves
- Saturday: Gore vs. Braves
- Sunday: Williams vs. Braves
- Monday: Day-off June 10
Your top Washington Nationals on the FanGraphs’ WAR leaderboard has Trevor Williams at +1.5 WAR followed by Jake Irvin and CJ Abrams at +1.3. MacKenzie Gore is next at +1.1 and Jacob Young is at +1.0 mark. In total, 20 Nats’ players are in positive WAR and another five at a neutral 0.0 WAR. The issue at the moment is about the four players at the extreme bottom in negative numbers that includes Lane Thomas who is a few more games from climbing into fair territory.
“I like Jacob Barnes there. He just didn’t locate that pitch to Ozuna. Other than that, he had him at two strikes.”
— manager Dave Martinez said after yesterday’s game
The Nats starting pitchers have a combined ERA of 4.02 and 16h in MLB. The Nats are now 1 points from 15th best in baseball, and 2 points from 14th best.
Here is how they rank:
No. 5 Starter: Patrick Corbin 6.12
No. 4 Starter: Mitchell Parker 3.45
No. 3 Starter: Jake Irvin 3.43
No. 2 Starter: MacKenzie Gore 3.04
No. 1 Starter: Trevor Williams 2.29
Washington Nationals vs. Atlanta Braves
Stadium: Truist Park, Atlanta, Georgia
1st Pitch: 7:20 pm EDT
TV: MASN2
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 184.
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 54:
The Nationals lost on 05/27 at home against the Marlins resulting in a record of 22-32. But you knew this already. Box Score / Standings
The Senators won on 06/21 on the road against the Philadelphia Athletics resulting in a record of 28-26. Box Score / Standings
