The Washington Nationals‘ 5-2 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Thursday afternoon was defined by who worked and who didn’t.
MacKenzie Gore, for example, did it. Sweating in the humid 90-degree heat at Nationals Park, he turned to the rosin bag, using both palms and his pant leg in search of a dry surface. Throughout the outing, the left-hander chewed up the zone with his usually impressive stuff and watched from his position on the mound as Arizona hit hit after hit into the shallow outfield. He tried, valiantly, to keep the Nationals in a game in which a victory could have given them their fourth consecutive victory in the series and dragged them back to .500 before a nine-game road trip.
“Yeah, I guess it’s just part of the game,” Gore said. “A lot of those (weaker hits) today. It’s good that they don’t hit the ball hard, but you also have to understand why they get hit.”
He also, inning after inning, calmly returned to the mound after only a few minutes of rest in the dugout. It took him 103 pitches to complete five innings. Diamondbacks right-hander Ryne Nelson needed just 70 pitches to complete seven.
“We just missed some pitches to hit,” manager Dave Martinez said. “We received balls right there and attacked them in fouls. We have to attack them. We try to have to skip these starters early. “I don’t mind them swinging early.”
The Nationals saw just 87 pitches, the fewest by a team in a nine-inning game since the Chicago Cubs saw 87 against the Philadelphia Phillies on Sept. 27, 2022, according to TruMedia. It was also the fewest the Nationals had seen since July 27, 2013, against the New York Mets. They finished the three-game series with just five total runs, the sixth time they have scored fewer than three runs per game in a series this season.
Washington (36-38) plans to modify that aggressive approach, noting that Arizona (37-38) pounded the strike zone throughout the series. In the three-game set, the Nationals saw just 3.15 pitches per plate appearance. The MLB average is 3.88.
“You’re going to go through times where (good) things just don’t happen because you’re a little depressed. When that happens, we will start to see some pitches,” Martínez said. “You’re never going to get out of there.”
The Nationals’ production continued to flow from their two best hitters: Lane Thomas (four home runs in his last six games) and Jesse Winker (1.003 OPS in June) produced strong hits over the fence. Thomas’ 411-foot shot in the third gave the Nationals the lead, and Winker’s 404-foot shot in the sixth cut their deficit to 4-2, but continued struggles at the bottom of the lineup meant that both came with two outs and no one in play. base. Nelson gave up only one other hit.
“Yeah, I mean, they did it,” Thomas said of the home runs. “I wish there were more runners on base so we could win the game.”
Gore was effective and efficient in a three-strikeout first inning, using two nasty sliders and a curveball out of the zone to wipe out the top of Arizona’s order early on. But he could not replicate the act in the subsequent innings.
He allowed a career-high 10 hits, although only one went for extra bases. TruMedia estimated Arizona’s expected batting average against Gore at .267. Instead, he hit .417, the biggest gap for him this season. Singles 5, 6 and 7 tied the game in the fourth inning. The first extra-base hit, a Randal Grichuk double, came on one of Gore’s two changeups and went over Winker, allowing two more runs to cross.
The Diamondbacks scored again off Gore in the fifth when Kevin Newman singled off Jake McCarthy to raise the left-hander’s ERA to 3.49. Jordan Weems also allowed a solo shot in the ninth. His ERA is 6.67, more than three runs higher than last season’s mark.
“Things were good,” Gore said. “He missed some bats, had some strikeouts, and when you give up soft contact, it means the material was good.”
Grades: CJ Abrams was out of the lineup for the second straight game and is day to day with a small cyst on his left palm near the wrist. He walked around the clubhouse before Thursday’s game, briefly and half-heartedly swinging a bat next to a trainer. He had duct tape around his left wrist and hand, the same area he needed an MRI scan after Wednesday’s game. He’s not sure what caused the problem, but he could play in the upcoming series against the Colorado Rockies. …
Right-hander Josiah Gray will have another rehab start this week, this time with Class AAA Rochester. He threw 79 pitches in five innings Wednesday for Class AA Harrisburg, allowing three hits, three walks and two earned runs while striking out five in his third rehab start. On Thursday, he returned to the clubhouse and said everything felt fresh and under control, with minimal soreness outside of the typical postgame. But he still has at least one more rehab start to go before returning to the rotation.
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