The Washington Nationals got some good news and bad news today. The bad news is that the Nats best pitcher, Trevor Williams, was placed on the 15-day IL with a strained flexor tendon in his right forearm. He will be shutdown from throwing for two weeks and go through another MRI before he throws again. Josiah Gray has been out nearly two months with this same diagnosis. The good news is the both CJ Abrams and Jacob Young are in tonight’s lineup after dealing with their own bumps and bruises.
To take Williams’ spot in the rotation is DJ Herz, a lefty who will make his MLB debut. He was acquired last year in the Jeimer Candelario trade in which the Nats also received Kevin Made. Herz has turned in a few very encouraging starts in Triple-A Rochester. He has a very good changeup, a low 90’s fastball that is effective when located, and a breaking pitch that has been a work-in-progress.
For the bullpen, manager Dave Martinez went with Dylan Floro yesterday to relieve starter MacKenzie Gore, and he allowed three inherited runners to score as well as one of his own to blow the lead the Nats’ had. The Nats were able to not use Robert Garcia, Hunter Harvey, and Kyle Finnegan. It was Jordan Weems who pitched two scoreless innings with 3 Ks, and Tanner Rainey finally pitched. His box score showed 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K. His pitches were all over the place and got into two full counts and both times the batters expanded and got themselves out. All in all, it was the same Rainey where he lived on the edge in too many two-and-three ball counts. Do we not see Rainey for another two weeks?
With Corbin’s two-run quality on Friday night, he has most likely solidified his spot once again in this rotation — or at least until Cade Cavalli and/or Josiah Gray are ready. Here’s what we think the starting rotation could look like going forward:
- Tuesday: DJ Herz vs. Mets
- Wednesday: Patrick Corbin vs. Mets
- Thursday: Mitchell Parker vs. Braves
- Friday: Jake Irvin vs. Braves
- Saturday: MacKenzie Gore vs. Braves
- Sunday: Herz vs. Braves
- Monday: Day-off June 10
- Tuesday: Corbin vs. Tigers
- Wednesday: Parker vs. Tigers
- Thursday: Irvin vs. Tigers
- Friday: Gore vs. Marlins
- Saturday: Herz vs. Marlins
- Sunday: Corbin vs. Marlins
- Monday: Day-off June 17
Your top Washington Nationals on the FanGraphs’ WAR leaderboard has Trevor Williams at +1.7 WAR, and Jake Irvin at +1.5, and MacKenzie Gore at +1.3 WAR. Jacob Young is at the top spot with +1.1 for position players. Hunter Harvey and Mitchell Parker are all at the +1.0 mark. In total, 20 Nats’ players are in positive WAR and another sever at a neutral 0.0 WAR. Good to see Joey Gallo move back into positive WAR at +0.2.
“One walk, one ball falls, it’s a different game. … We had a couple opportunities [on offense]. Just fell a little short. I thought we hit the ball really well. Lined out a few times. Overall, I thought our at-bats were good today.”
— manager Dave Martinez said after yesterday’s game
The Nats starting pitchers have a combined ERA of 4.03 and 14th in MLB.
Here is how they rank:
No. 5 Starter: Patrick Corbin 5.83
No. 4 Starter: Mitchell Parker 3.60
No. 3 Starter: MacKenzie Gore 3.57
No. 2 Starter: Jake Irvin 3.39
No. 1 Starter: Trevor Williams 2.22
Washington Nationals vs. New York Mets
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 opposing team will be online and the Nats broadcast will be on Channel 179.
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 60:
The Nationals won on 06/04 at home against the White Sox resulting in a record of 27-33. But you knew this already. Box Score / Standings
The Senators won on 06/26 at home against the Philadelphia Athletics resulting in a record of 34-26. Box Score / Standings
