The Washington Nationals got a dominant performance from MacKenzie Gore on Friday, and then one that topped that yesterday from DJ Herz. Now another lefty, Mitchell Parker, will face a similar Marlins offense in this Father’s Day early afternoon game at Nationals Park.
The Marlins have another lefty on the mound today in the familiar draftee, Jesus Luzardo, who was part of the trade that netted the Nationals their closer, Sean Doolittle, during those great years in Nats’ history. Now Doolittle is the team’s pitching strategist, which in Doo’s words is essentially an assistant pitching coach role.
Manager Dave Martinez had a rested back of his bullpen and utilized Dylan Floro, Hunter Harvey, and closer, Kyle Finnegan to preserve the win and shutout. Harvey threw 31 high-octane pitches and should probably sit today. The rest of the bullpen got to rest while Floro only threw 7-pitches to get his three outs, and Finnegan just needed 9-pitches for the 9th inning. The day-off tomorrow certainly helps.
Good news on Jesse Winker who tweaked his knee yesterday and came out of the game. An MRI showed no structural damage and for now he will remain on the roster and go day-by-day. That could certainly change with Harold Ramirez getting ready in Triple-A. It is possible that Ramirez comes up for someone like Trey Lipscomb as the team needs more pop after Joey Gallo‘s hamstring injury.
With Trevor Williams on the 15-day IL, he pitched last on May 30. When he was placed on the IL, Martinez told the media that he would be shutdown for a period of tw0-week. We are beyond the two-week mark today. Do we get an update today? Will that shutdown be extended?
Enjoy this nice article in The Sporting News about CJ Abrams and his father, and how every day is Father’s Day for him. The Nats will don a special red hat with a baby blue Curly W to honor fathers, and also the blue ribbons you will see around the ballpark is about prostate cancer awareness.
Here’s what we think the starting rotation could look like going forward without Josiah Gray, Williams, and Cade Cavalli:
- Sunday: Mitchell Parker vs. Marlins
- Monday: Day-off June 17
- Tuesday: Jake Irvin vs. Diamondbacks
- Wednesday: Patrick Corbin vs. Diamondbacks (Josiah Gray rehab start)
- Thursday: MacKenzie Gore vs. Diamondbacks
- Friday: DJ Herz vs. Rockies
- Saturday: Parker vs. Rockies
- Sunday: Irvin vs. Rockies
- Monday: Corbin vs. Padres
- Tuesday: Gore vs. Padres
- Wednesday: Herz vs. Padres
- Thursday: Day-off June 27
- Friday: Parker vs. Rays
- Saturday: Irvin vs. Rays
- Sunday: Corbin vs. Rays
Your top Washington Nationals on the FanGraphs’ WAR leaderboard has MacKenzie Gore at +1.9, and Jake Irvin with a +1.8 WAR. Trevor Williams is at +1.7 WAR, and CJ Abrams reclaims the top spot with +1.3 for position players with Jacob Young right behind him at +1.2 WAR. Mitchell Parker is at the +1.0 mark. In total, 21 Nats’ players are in positive WAR and another five are at a neutral 0.0 WAR. Eddie Rosario drops to -0.8 WAR and Keibert Ruiz is at -1.2 WAR.
“I was very pleased with the 18 outs [Herz] gave us. He had 84 pitches. We could’ve sent him back out there– but I thought he did a great job.”
— manager Dave Martinez said after yesterday’s game
The Nats starting pitchers have a combined ERA of 3.81 and 14th in MLB. The Nats are points from being the 12th best starting rotation by ERA. Look at those rankings of teams.
Here is how they rank, and if we insert DJ Herz, he would be ahead of Patrick Corbin at a 3.77 ERA:
No. 5 Starter: Patrick Corbin 5.84
No. 4 Starter: MacKenzie Gore 3.24
No. 3 Starter: Mitchell Parker 3.21
No. 2 Starter: Jake Irvin 3.00
No. 1 Starter: Trevor Williams 2.22
Washington Nationals vs. Miami Marlins
Stadium: Nationals Park, Washington, D.C.
1st Pitch: 1:35 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, tune to Channel 177 for the home broadcast and the road team is online only.
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 71:
The Nationals won on 06/16 at home against the Diamondbacks resulting in a record of 33-38. But you knew this already. Box Score / Standings
The Senators lost on 07/04 at home against the Yankees resulting in a record of 41-30. Box Score / Standings
