The Washington Nationals have reseeded their starting rotation, and the birthday boy, Patrick Corbin, takes the mound on his 35th birthday. As expected, first round draft pick, Seaver King, was at Nats Park to sign his contract at a reported $5.15 million, and third round pick, Kevin Bazzell, signed his contract also. Both King and Bazzell participated in the batting practice with the team.
The news broke today that RHP Josiah Gray has a partially torn ulnar collateral ligament in his pitching elbow which we feared on June 30 when he pitched with his fastball velocity down by 2.9 mph on average. He will obviously be out for the remainder of this season, and his timetable to return will be established when it is known from Dr. Meister as to what type of surgery he will require as an internal brace surgery has a shorter recovery time.
On the good news side of things, Jose A. Ferrer has returned from his 60-day IL stint and Amos Willingham was optioned back to Triple-A Rochester as the team will continue for a while with 9-bullpen arms and 4-starting pitchers. Everyone is on trade-watch with Dylan Floro and Kyle Finnegan.
The Nationals are the slight betting underdogs today, at +115 to win on the moneyline. That means if you bet $100 you would win $115 Bet $10 and you win $11.50.
This is what the Nats schedule looks like going forward:
- Friday: Patrick Corbin vs. Reds
- Saturday: MacKenzie Gore vs. Reds
- Sunday: Jake Irvin vs. Reds
Your top Washington Nationals on the FanGraphs’ WAR leaderboard has CJ Abrams on the top at +2.2 for position players and the team’s All-Star. He behind MacKenzie Gore at +2.5. Jake Irvin is at +2.1. Luis Garcia Jr. is at +1.8 as the second best position player followed by Jacob Young at +1.5. In total, 23 Nats’ players are in positive WAR and another seven 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 4.21 and 18th 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 3.49
Washington Nationals vs. Cincinnati Reds
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, 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 98:
The Nationals lost on 07/21 on the road against the Atlanta Braves in a record of 52-46. They won’t drop below .500 the rest of the season. But you knew this already. Box Score / Standings
The Senators lost on 07/30 on the road against the Detroit Tigers resulting in a record of 55-43. Box Score / Standings
