Series Finale No. 55 in Atlanta

The Washington Nationals received a gem last night from starter MacKenzie Gore to give the Nats a win with the big offense coming from Lane Thomas putting the Nats ahead to stay with a 3-run home run off the Braves starter. With a few more runs, closer, Kyle Finnegan didn’t have to pitch the 9th inning. Gore had 10 Ks, no walks and just one gain in last night’s game. On the season, the Nats now have one road win despite having a .500 average as the visiting team.

Jake Irvin, Mitchell Parker and Gore all had no earned runs in their first five innings of work in this series against the Braves. It would be the hope to replicate that tonight for starter Trevor Williams.

Expect Martinez to have his full bullpen available tonight. Hunter Harvey threw 21 pitches last night, so it would be nice to avoid him tonight. But you have to understand that all hands are available to win the series in Atlanta, as the Nats currently lead 2-1 in the 4 game series.

Three players were injured in yesterday’s match and none, thankfully, appear serious, although they did seem very worrying when they occurred. Nick Senzel fouled a ball on his knee and was removed from the game. Jacob Young applied a RAP to the jaw and was saved from serious injury thanks to the “C” flap that extends over the jaw. Keibert Ruiz’s 2022 season ended abruptly when he was fouled in the groin – and last night he was hit again – but luckily he got through it and stayed in the game.

Good news from the Nats’ Minor League Triple-A affiliate of the Rochester Red Wings, as LHP DJ Herz had almost an identical line to Gore with one run, 10 Ks, although Herz had a walk. These are two very good starts in a row for Herz who is on the 40-man roster. Could his next start be a one-off start next week to give the Nats a break from the rotated rotation amid their 17 straight days without a day off?

Here’s what we think the starting rotation could look like in the future:

1. Thursday: Trevor Williams vs. Atlanta
2. Friday: Patrick Corbin vs. Cleveland
3. Saturday June 1: Mitchell Parker vs. Cleveland
4. Sunday: Jake Irvin vs. Cleveland
5. Monday: MacKenzie Gore vs. Mets
6. Tuesday: Williams vs. Mets
7. Wednesday: Corbin vs. Mets
8. Thursday: Parker vs. Braves
9. Friday: Irvin vs. Braves
10. Saturday: Gore vs. Braves
11. Sunday: Williams vs. Braves
12. Monday: Day off June 10

Your best Washington Nationals on the FanGraphs WAR Rankings has a new leader with MacKenzie Gore slightly ahead of Trevor Williams at +1.5 WAR followed by Jake Irvin at +1.3. CJ Abrams is next at +1.1 and Jacob Young and Hunter Harvey are at +1.0. In total, 21 Nats players are in positive WAR and six others are in neutral WAR of 0.0. Lane Thomas has jumped +0.5 since his return and now goes from negative to positive +0.2. Once again, Eddie Rosario fell back into negative numbers last week, and he’s right there with Josiah Gray, Tanner Rainey, Joey Meneses, and Keibert Ruiz. All these players need to come out of their holes.

Nats starting pitchers have a Combined ERA of 3.98 and 2 p.m. in MLB. The Nats are now 37 points behind 10th best in baseball. Think about cutting about a third of that ERA total and what that would mean.

Here’s how they rank:

Holder n°5: Patrick Corbin 6.12
Holder n°4: Mitchell Parker 3.45
Start #3: Jake Irvin 3.43
Newbie #2: MacKenzie Gore 2.91
Holder n°1: Trevor Williams 2.29

WAshington Nationls against the Atlanta Braves

Stadium: Truist Park, Atlanta, Georgia
1st location: 7:20 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN
Radio: 106.7 La Fan radio and via the MLB application; In Spanish on DC 87.7 FM and La Pantera 100.7 FM/1220 AM. On Sirius/XM, the Nats will be online only and the opposing team on Channel 89.

Programming subject to change (without notice):

TalkNats Celebrates 5th and 100th Anniversaries of World Series Victories by Providing Game-by-Play Recaps.

Game 55:
The Nationals won 5/28 on the road against the Atlanta Braves, making it 23-32. But you already knew that. Box Score/Ranking
The Senators won 6/22 at home against the Philadelphia Athletics, resulting in a 29-26 record. Box Score/Ranking

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