The Washington Nationals had an 8-1 lead going into the 9th inning last night and had to scramble in the bullpen to save the game with the tying run in the batter’s box in an 8-5 win. The good news is that it was a Nats winner.
What can you say about the birthday boy, Patrick Corbin, who pitched his best game statistically of the season. The pre-game crowd was treated to the Nats first round draft pick Seaver King, as well as third round pick, Kevin Bazzell, as they both signed their contracts and took batting practice with the team. The postgame crowd, of over 38,000 people, was treated to a Carly Rae Jepsen concert.
As for today, it is MacKenzie Gore on the mound, and it is also his Bobblehead Day. There are three different uniforms to collect in the set. Gore’s previous start was nine days ago, and that was before the All-Star break. The hope is that the extra rest will help him today and going forward.
Also, a happy birthday to Keibert Ruiz. The Nats’ starting catcher turned 26 today. Yesterday he hit a 2-run home run, and let’s hope he has a special birthday game like Corbin did yesterday on his birthday.
We are now exactly 10-days before the 2024 trade deadline, and everyone wants to know if general manager Mike Rizzo will trade more of his players after he pulled off a great haul for reliever Hunter Harvey exactly a week ago.
“We’re going to do [trade deadline] deals that we’re comfortable with, and if we aren’t — we won’t do a deal.”
— general manager Mike Rizzo on how he sees his team
“You can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I think the fan base knows what we’re doing. You can see the progress and the process working.”
“Play good baseball, win games, and in the process, teach these young players how to win those close games.”
Maybe the team delayed the bad news on RHP Josiah Gray who has a partially torn ulnar collateral ligament in his pitching elbow to yesterday to mix in that bad news with all of the good news.
As mentioned, manager Dave Martinez had to scramble his bullpen after Jose A. Ferrer had major struggles that got Derek Law up probably before he was ready, and he put two additional runners on-base while getting the second out of the inning, and Martinez felt he had to go to Kyle Finnegan for the save. Finnegan walked the first batter he saw to put the tying run in the batter’s box. He was lucky that the center-cut pitch he threw to Elly De La Cruz was shot (101.4 mph) directly at second baseman Luis Garcia Jr. for the final out of the game. Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good.
The Nationals are the slight betting favorites today, at +100 to win on the moneyline. That means if you bet $100 you would win $100. Bet $10 and you win $10.00.
This is what the Nats schedule looks like going forward:
- Saturday: MacKenzie Gore vs. Reds
- Sunday: Jake Irvin vs. Reds
- Monday: Day-off
- Tuesday: TBA vs. San Diego
- Wednesday: TBA vs. San Diego
- Thursday: TBA vs. San Diego
- Friday: TBA vs. St. Louis
- Saturday: TBA vs. St. Louis
- Sunday: TBA vs. St. Louis
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 +2.5. Jake Irvin is at +2.1. Luis Garcia Jr. is at +1.8 as the second best position player followed by Jacob Young at +1.7. In total, 23 Nats’ players are in positive WAR and another eight are at a neutral 0.0 WAR.
“Corbin was good. Corbin was really good. He pitched really well. That’s what we needed after four days off.”
— Nats’ manager Dave Martinez said after yesterday’s game
The Nats starting pitchers have a combined ERA of 4.18 and 16th in MLB.
Here is how they rank:
No. 5 Starter: Patrick Corbin 5.35
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 179 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 99:
The Nationals lost on 07/23 at home against the Colorado Rockies in a record of 53-46. They won’t drop below .500 the rest of the season. But you knew this already. Box Score / Standings
The Senators won on 07/31 on the road against the Detroit Tigers resulting in a record of 56-43. The Senators moved into sole possession of 2nd place. Box Score / Standings
