The Washington Nationals had not played in a doubleheader since May 14 in Chicago, and they had not swept a doubleheader since April 19 of 2022 against Arizona. In fact, last year on April 29, the Pirates swept the Nats in a doubleheader.
This doubleheader sweep had a miraculous finish with four runs against Pirates closer, Aroldis Chapman, in a dramatic 9th inning. Ildemaro Vargas got a 2-run double that went in and out of the glove of the Pirates’ rightfielder with 2-outs for the game winner. Too often it has been the Nats on the other end of a final inning heartbreaker, and this time they were the team celebrating. Today, the Nats will go for the series win in the 4-game set with the Pirates.
A cool stat from yesterday, there had only been 9 rookies in Nats’ history to have at least two extra-base hits and a stolen base in one game before Saturday. In the first game of the doubleheader yesterday, Dylan Crews became the 10th Nats’ rookie to join that club — and now all three starting outfielders are in that club with Crews, Jacob Young (6/28/2024) and James Wood (8/6/2024) all accomplishing that this season.
Most of the position players and a few of the relievers played both ends of this doubleheader. The team was already tired from their extra innings game on Wednesday in Miami and late arrival after 2 AM into Pittsburgh. With the late game on Thursday, and showing up at the stadium on Friday — only to be sent back to their hotel after a rainout — the team shoved hard to make it through Saturday’s double-dip. Tomorrow’s day-off back in Washington will be nice — but the team has this big game today before they can relax on Monday. The Nats bullpen threw 165 pitches yesterday.
Based on last year’s win total of 71-games, the Nats need to go 8-12 or better to beat that total. To exceed the 66-win total from FanGraphs, the Nats need to win 3 more games. There are just 20-games remaining in the season. The team avoided the dreaded triple-digit loss plateau with the first game win on Saturday and will far exceed the win total that Baseball Prospectus was projecting as they had the Nats going 58-104.
The Nats are underdogs today, at +135 to win on the moneyline. That means if you bet $100 you would win $135. Bet $10.00 and you win $13.50.
Nats’ manager Dave Martinez used Kyle Finnegan for both ends of the doubleheader yesterday for saves. Tomorrow is a day-off and expect that a few relievers won’t pitch today.
This is what the Nats schedule looks like going forward, and the plan is to get Trevor Williams back into the rotation and finish the final week-and-a-half of the season with a 6-man rotation:
- Sunday: Patrick Corbin vs. Pirates
- Monday: Day-off September 9
- Tuesday: MacKenzie Gore vs. Atlanta
- Wednesday: Jake Irvin vs. Atlanta
- Thursday: DJ Herz vs. Marlins
- Friday: Mitchell Parker vs. Marlins
- Saturday: Corbin vs. Marlins
- Sunday: Gore vs. Marlins
- Monday: Irvin vs. Mets
- Tuesday: Herz vs. Mets
- Wednesday: Parker vs. Mets
- Thursday: Corbin vs. Cubs
- Friday: Gore vs. Cubs
- Saturday: Irvin vs. Cubs
- Sunday: Herz vs. Cubs
- Monday: Day-off September 23
- Tuesday: Parker vs. Royals
- Wednesday: Corbin vs. Royals
- Thursday: Gore vs. Royals
- Friday: Irvin vs. Phillies
- Saturday: Herz vs. Phillies
- Sunday: Parker vs. Phillies (Final Game of the Season)
Your top Washington Nationals on the FanGraphs’ WAR leaderboard has Luis Garcia Jr. at a WAR of +2.9, and Jacob Young at +2.8. and CJ Abrams has sunk all the way back to +1.4. In total, 29 Nats’ players are in positive WAR and another seven are at a neutral 0.0 WAR.
— Nats’ manager Dave Martinez said after yesterday’s game
“They didn’t give up. I talk about these guys every day, about them playing hard to the last out, and they did it again today.”
“They don’t feel like they’re ever out of a game. They feel like if they keep grinding — good things will happen. Today, they grinded. They grinded hard today. After winning the first game, and playing the way we did the second game, hopefully they carry that over tomorrow.”
The Nats starting pitchers have a combined ERA of 4.44 and 22nd in MLB.
Here is how they rank:
No. 5 Starter: Patrick Corbin 5.41
No. 4 Starter: Mitchell Parker 4.43
No. 3 Starter: MacKenzie Gore 4.32
No. 2 Starter: Jake Irvin 4.28
No. 1 Starter: DJ Herz 3.82
Washington Nationals vs. Pittsburgh Pirates
Stadium: PNC Park, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
1st Pitch: 1:35 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 178 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 143:
The Nationals lost on 09/10 on the road in Minnesota with a record of 79-64. The Nats are in second place in the NL East. But you knew this already. Box Score / Standings
The Senators won on 09/17 on the road against the Cleveland Indians resulting in a record of 84-59. The Senators have sole possession of first place and ahead of the Yankees. Box Score / Standings
