The Washington Nationals stopped their losing streak and got their fifth one-run win of the season last night. This team continues to get some great starting pitching, and last night it was Jake Irvin leading the way.
Today, Sean Doolittle will serve as the Nationals pitching coach. Jim Hickey is away for family time off.
It was 14-years ago today that Stephen Strasburg made his debut into one of the most watched games in Nationals history. The retired star has moved back to San Diego with his family. Strasburg’s family has called D.C. home for most of his tenure with the Nationals.
For the bullpen, manager Dave Martinez got a Friday night Save No. 17 from closer Kyle Finnegan who should be available today. Expect Hunter Harvey to get a rest day after he pitched in back-to-back games. Derek Law threw only 12-pitches yesterday and should be available. It was Jordan Weems who got most of the burden of short outings by the starters and covered 4.0 innings and 59 pitches on Monday and Wednesday. You’d like to get Weems another night off. Dylan Floro could pitch today as well as Robert Garcia as both are fresh. Jacob Barnes pitched on Thursday and should also be available.
With Patrick Corbin‘s downs and ups this season, you have to wonder what his future is in this rotation — but with DJ Herz up now and Trevor Williams injured, there is nobody to step in until Cade Cavalli and/or Josiah Gray are ready. Gray will pitch a rehab game with Single-A Fredericksburg on Sunday, and Cavalli will do some bullpen work after his rehab start with Wilmington High-A did not go too well.
Here’s what we think the starting rotation could look like going forward:
- Saturday: MacKenzie Gore vs. Braves
- Sunday: DJ Herz vs. Braves
- Monday: Day-off June 10
- Tuesday: Patrick Corbin vs. Tigers
- Wednesday: Mitchell Parker vs. Tigers
- Thursday: Jake 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 Jake Irvin on top with a +1.7 WAR and Trevor Williams at +1.7 WAR. Jacob Young is at the top spot with +1.2 for position players, and MacKenzie Gore is also at +1.3 WAR. Hunter Harvey and Mitchell Parker are at the +1.0 mark. In total, 21 Nats’ players are in positive WAR and another five are at a neutral 0.0 WAR.
“That’s a tough team. They can really hit. What our two starters did the first two teams is really impressive.”
— manager Dave Martinez said after Wednesday’s game
The Nats starting pitchers have a combined ERA of 4.08 and 17th in MLB.
Here is how they rank:
No. 5 Starter: Patrick Corbin 6.15
No. 4 Starter: MacKenzie Gore 3.57
No. 3 Starter: Mitchell Parker 3.47
No. 2 Starter: Jake Irvin 3.12
No. 1 Starter: Trevor Williams 2.22
Washington Nationals vs. Atlanta Braves
Stadium: Nationals Park, Washington, D.C.
1st Pitch: 4:05 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 opposing team will be online and the Nats broadcast will be on Channel 178.
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 64:
The Nationals won on 06/08 on the road against the Padres resulting in a record of 29-35. But you knew this already. Box Score / Standings
The Senators won on 06/29 at home against the Philadelphia Athletics resulting in a record of 37-27. Box Score / Standings
