The Washington Nationals have a getaway game in Toronto and are in need of a happy flight home in front of a Thursday day-off.
The 1-4 Nats have lost 75 percent of their games in the bullpen. In this afternoon’s series finale, the Nats send MacKenzie Gore to the mound after his masterful Opening Day domination of the Phillies.
While Gore has not been anointed ace status, that is earned over time. Baseball is a marathon. Making small sample size analysis and labeling players with little to go by can often lead to incorrect conclusions. So Gore and others have to prove themselves with consistency.
Speaking of aces, this was supposed to be Max Scherzer‘s start for his new team in Toronto but he quickly fell on the 15-day IL with a thumb injury, and Toronto promoted LHP Easton Lucas from the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons on March 30. In the past, the 28-year-old was used as a reliever by Toronto without much success. Like many teams with injuries, finding starter depth is often difficult.
The Nats home run streak ended yesterday, but they finally found some success on RISP hitting. As we discussed in our first series analysis, the RISP struggles were a problem to begin the season. The team raised it by 25 points last night to get to a .146 batting average. Now what the team really needs is offensive balance of power and effective RISP hitting.
“They seemed to find the hits. We couldn’t.”
— manager Dave Martinez said
Truth is, the Nats aren’t giving themselves enough chances because of the differential in strikeouts. The Nats K’d 12 times last night while Toronto only struck out 7 times. The hit differential was 12-to-6. No home runs for either team, but the difference was an error by Jose A. Ferrer that led to two unearned runs.
With an upgraded defense, we saw CJ Abrams at his best on both sides of his game. He went 3-for-4 with the bat and turned in a nifty Web Gem. He got his OAA from a -1.0 to an even 0.0 yesterday. Speaking of defense, Jacob Young, per OAA, has made 100 percent of the plays within OAA’s bettering his estimated success rate by five percent, and if you think that is good, Paul DeJong has bettered his estimated success rate by 7 percent.
We know how great defense can positively impact the pitching staff. His offseason defensive work is paying off. We wrote extensively in the offseason how Abrams hired his own defensive coach, Nate Trosky, to work on his defense, and especially his first-step.
“[CJ] has been doing really well.I’m happy because he’s hitting, but I’m also happy because he’s playing really good defense right now. He made some really good plays today.”
— Martinez said
“He’s moving a lot better.His first step has been really good. He’s getting around the baseball a lot better.”
The Nats starting pitchers have a combined ERA of 2.96 and 9th best in MLB.
Here is how they rank by ERA in the first time through the rotation:
No. 5 Starter: Trevor Williams 5.40
No. 4 Starter: Michael Soroka 7.20
No. 3 Starter: Mitchell Parker 0.00
No. 2 Starter: Jake Irvin 3.60
No. 1 Starter: MacKenzie Gore 0.00
Washington Nationals vs. Toronto Blue Jays
Stadium: Rogers Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
1st Pitch: 3:07 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 179 for the home broadcast and the road team is online only.
Line-up subject to change (without notice):
