The Washington Nationals started the season at 1-6. Teams will have those stretches in a long season. But when you start your season that way, negativity will creep into your fan base. As bad as that start was, the Nats can completely turn around that record to 6-1 with a win today. These Nats are on a 5-1 hot streak capped off by a Nathaniel Lowe hit reminiscent of Michael Jordan meets Jayson Werth moment if they did a collaboration of the flu game and Werth’s epic 13-pitch at-bat in the 2012 NLDS.
For those who don’t know their sports history, Michael Jordan “flu game” in Game 5 of the 1997 NBA Finals, Jordan famously played through what was initially described as flu-like symptoms, to lead the Chicago Bulls to a victory over the Utah Jazz. Flashback to Werth’s 13-pitch at-bat versus Lance Lynn in the the 2012 NLDS and Werth hit a walk-off homer. While Lowe’s bases clearing 3-run double can’t be compared to the magnitude of what Jordan and Werth did in the postseason, the Nats’ first baseman had flu-like symptoms and was scratched before the game then inserted as a pinch-hitter in the 8th inning to deliver in a 10-pitch at-bat. The Nats were losing at the time, 4-2 before Lowe made it a Nats lead at 5-4 in the blink of an eye.
“[Lowe] is sick, but I talked to him before the game and I said, ‘Look if we have an opportunity to use you and pinch-hit, can you do it?’ manager Dave Martinez said. “He looked at me and said, ‘I can.’ And I said, ‘I’ll check back with you.’ When I saw what was going on, I said, ‘Hey, we have an opportunity here — bases loaded. I want you to hit.’”
— said Nats’ manager Dave Martinez
In the 9th inning, James Wood added an add-on run with a homer that was an absolute 110.5 mph rope over the left-center field wall traveling exactly 400 feet on a 21 degree line drive launch angle, and the ball backspinned over the wall to the amaze of everyone watching. It was Josh Bell‘s 2-run homer in the 6th inning that broke up the shutout. The only downer in the game, besides Mitchell Parker‘s defense, was CJ Abrams was removed from the game with a leg/hip injury that has been nagging him. By the way, the Nats are 3-0 this season in Parker’s starters.
With Wednesday’s day-off, Kyle Finnegan received three rest days, and was inserted in the 9th inning last night for his 5th save in five save appearances. You can see the recent bullpen usage here:
With defense as a main focus, Paul DeJong took the MLB lead with his +4.0 OAA, and that is for all fielders. His value, much like Jacob Young +1.0 OAA, goes far beyond what they do with their bats.
Last year, TalkNats brilliantly spoke about moving in the direction of fixing the broken defense, and that in turn would make the pitching perform better — and we are already seeing that happen in real-time.
Here are your Nats’ WAR leaders with Keibert Ruiz on top and fractionally followed by MacKenzie Gore. Paul DeJong is your OAA leader, and here are your stats leaders on BBRef. There are certainly some surprises on there — good and not so good — but the gap is
This week’s stars are lining up with Alex Call turning in another great game. Lowe took the team lead in RBIs at 12, and James Wood is just killing the ball.
“It’s the hip flexor again [for Abrams]. It tightened up on him, so we’ll re-evaluate him here and see how he’s doing tomorrow. He said he felt it when he went to steal, and then he went out there, he tried to make that play up the middle and he felt it again. So he finished the inning, but he said he was tight.”
— Martinez said
The Nats starting pitchers have a combined ERA of 3.76 and 11th best in MLB. The reliever’s ERA sits at a 5.52 and neutralizing.
Here is how the starters rank by ERA:
No. 5 Starter: Trevor Williams 5.40
No. 4 Starter: Michael Soroka 7.20
No. 3 Starter: Mitchell Parker 1.96
No. 2 Starter: Jake Irvin 5.63
No. 1 Starter: MacKenzie Gore 2.65
Washington Nationals vs. Miami Marlins
Stadium: loanDepot park, Miami, Florida
1st Pitch: 4:10 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 89 for the home broadcast and the road team is online only.
Line-up subject to change (without notice):
