The Washington Nationals pulled off a miraculous comeback from a 5-run deficit to score six unanswered runs with a Luis Garcia Jr. pinch-hit home run, and the clutch ninth inning 2-run blast by All-Star, CJ Abrams, that put up the blown save on the Brewers’ closer as well as the finally tally to take the score from a 5-4 deficit to a 6-5 winner. Of course the bottom of the 9th inning was a heart thumper when right fielder Lane Thomas had to sprint back to the wall with a jump to catch what easily could have turned into a disaster. Kyle Finnegan earned the save, and the bullpen threw up another shutout. But that seemed bittersweet, because shortly after the game ended, the Nats were hugging top set-up man, Hunter Harvey, who had been traded to the Royals.
We are also several hours from the first round of the MLB Draft. Teams still don’t know who is picking which players, and kind of like last year, we have to wait to see who is chosen ahead of the Nats. Last year, it was just waiting for the Pirates to pick at No. 1 to know the Nats were taking Dylan Crews as the second pick in the draft. As part of the Harvey trade, the Nats picked up a Competitive Balance draft pick, №39, to go with their №10 and №44 picks.
The Nats will have to make a roster move to add a reliever to the roster to take Harvey’s spot and sources tell us that will be Amos Willingham. Yesterday, the team called up RHP Eduardo Salazar from Triple-A Rochester as the team will continue for a while with 9-bullpen arms and 4-starting pitchers.
Manager Dave Martinez used Finnegan to close the game for his third straight appearance, and he needs this All-Star break to rest his arm. Jordan Weems carried most of the weight yesterday in pitches thrown as starter, Mitchell Parker, was pulled before the first inning ended which meant that the Nats bullpen had to cover 8 1/3 innings. Jacob Barnes stood in as the long-man and ate 2 2/3 innings while only allowing one baserunner and striking out four. Dylan Floro covered 2.0 scoreless and lowered his ERA to 2.11. He becomes a prime trade candidate. Derek Law threw 1.0 quick inning and earned the win.
The Nationals are the slight betting underdogs today, at +125 to win on the moneyline. That means if you bet $100 you would win $125 Bet $10 and you win $12.50.
That 17-game marathon ends today, and unless Jake Irvin is added to the All-Star roster, every player but CJ Abrams will get four days off during the All-Star break. The team will have played 97-games before the All-Star break, and that leaves just 65-games after the All-Star break. They call this the mid-way point of the season, but clearly the mid-summer classic does not mathematically line-up.
This is what the Nats schedule looks like going forward:
- Sunday: Jake Irvin vs. Brewers (MLB Draft)
- All-Star Break (HR Derby)
- All-Star Break (All-Star Game)
- All-Star Break
- All-Star Break
- Friday: TBA vs. Reds – July 19
- Saturday: TBA vs. Reds
- Sunday: TBA vs. Reds
Your top Washington Nationals on the FanGraphs’ WAR leaderboard has CJ Abrams on the top at +2.1 for position players and the team’s All-Star. He behind MacKenzie Gore at +2.4. Jake Irvin is at +2.1. Luis Garcia Jr. is at +1.8 as the second best position player followed by Jacob Young at +1.7. In total, 25Nats’ players are in positive WAR and another four are at a neutral 0.0 WAR.
“I think you go out and you score some runs early and guys tend to relax and the at-bats get better. The pitchers actually can relax a little bit. ….”
— Nats’ manager Davey Martinez said after Friday’s game
The Nats starting pitchers have a combined ERA of 4.14 and 15th in MLB.
Here is how they rank:
No. 5 Starter: Patrick Corbin 5.57
No. 4 Starter: DJ Herz 5.17
No. 3 Starter: MacKenzie Gore 4.01
No. 2 Starter: Mitchell Parker 3.90
No. 1 Starter: Jake Irvin 3.13
Washington Nationals vs. Milwaukee Brewers
Stadium: American Family Field, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
1st Pitch: 2:10 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, tune to Channel 184 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 97:
The Nationals won on 07/20 on the road against the Atlanta Braves in a record of 52-45. They won’t drop below .500 the rest of the season. But you knew this already. Box Score / Standings
The Senators lost on 07/29 on the road against the Cleveland Indians resulting in a record of 54-43. Box Score / Standings
