The Washington Nationals called up Trevor Williams yesterday to face the Cubs, a team he played for in 2021, and Williams went 5.0 innings of 1-run baseball to lower his season ERA to 2.19. That should have been enough to win the game — but Williams got no offensive support.
In yesterday’s 1-0 game, the Cubs pulled their starter, Jameson Taillon, at 80-pitches with 6.0 innings completed. He did not go to the mound for the 7th inning to risk anything. On Monday in a very similar situation, Jake Irvin was beating the Mets 1-0 at 90-pitches and was sent out for the 8th inning and the lead was given up quickly. Some said, “managers don’t pull a strong starter in that situation.” Well, Craig Counsell did — and he got the win. The Nats haven’t won a game since the day before Irvin’s start on Monday.
Additionally in yesterday’s game, with that 1-0 deficit, Nats’ manager Dave Martinez allowed his reliever, Eduardo Salazar to remain in the game with 2-outs and two runners on-base to face a lefty pinch-hitter who promptly hit a 2-run single to push the score from 1-0 to 3-0 in the 7th inning. Salazar had faced four batters prior to facing the pinch-hitter and per the rules — he could have been replaced. He wasn’t, and the Nats lost 3-1 and the losing streak went to 5-games.
The Nats need to go 4-4 or better to beat their 2023 win total. How great would that be to finish in the mid-70’s for a win total? For the remainder of the season, the Nats will face teams with winning records with postseason aspirations on the line.
The Nats are slight underdogs today at +120 to win on the moneyline. That means if you bet $100 you would win $120. Bet $10.00 and you win $12.00.
Nats’ manager Dave Martinez has not used Kyle Finnegan since last weekend. He might have rust on him. With a day-off on Monday, Finnegan needs to pitch today. Of note, Zach Brzykcy was optioned back to Triple-A on Friday and the bullpen goes back to 8 relievers since the Nats currently have a 6-man rotation.
Here is a look at the matchups:
- Saturday: MacKenzie Gore vs. Cubs
- Sunday Jake Irvin vs. Cubs
- Monday: Day-off September 23
- Tuesday: Mitchell Parker vs. Royals
- Wednesday: DJ Herz vs. Royals
- Thursday: Patrick Corbin vs. Royals
- Friday: Trevor Williams vs. Phillies
- Saturday: Gore vs. Phillies
- Sunday: Irvin 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 +2.5. CJ Abrams is at +1.9WAR. There are 30 Nats’ players in positive WAR with another 7.
“This is kind of the time where you’ve got to buckle in and just make that last push. I know the offseason is close, but you can’t really be focused on that when we’ve still got games on the table.”
— said James Wood who singlehandedly put up the only run for the Nats yesterday with a titanic blast through the wind in Wrigley Field
The Nats starting pitchers have a combined ERA of 4.44 and 23rd in MLB.
Here is how they rank:
No. 5 Starter: Patrick Corbin 5.58
No. 4 Starter: Mitchell Parker 4.44
No. 3 Starter: DJ Herz 4.30
No. 2 Starter: MacKenzie Gore 4.17
No. 1 Starter: Jake Irvin 4.07
Washington Nationals vs. Chicago Cubs
Stadium: Wrigley Field, Chicago, Illinois
1st Pitch: 2:20 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 176 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.
