Washington Nationals news & notes: Big 7-run 4th lifts Nats, 8-5, for 3 of 4 from Braves in D.C.

Notes and quotes from the series finale with the Braves…

“Got the first one out the way,” 23-year-old lefty DJ Herz told reporters, after four innings of work against New York’s Mets in his MLB debut, “and move on to the next and keep going.”

Herz gave up seven hits, two walks, and four earned runs, with two runs scoring on a home run in the fourth, and the other two crossing the plate after he left the game, with two men on and no one out in the fifth.

“It was amazing,” Herz said of his first start in the majors. “The adrenaline was pumping, and everybody was very welcoming. It was an awesome first day. Man, I’m tired right now. But it was a great day.”

“He was a little nervous,” manager Davey Martinez said after what ended up a 6-3 loss to the Nats’ NL East rivals.

“In big moments he kind of settled down and threw strikes and looked really good.”

The manager’s message for Herz coming out of the start?

“I told him, I said, ‘You did a great job.’ He really did. So let’s focus on the positives.”

Photo by Jess Rapfogel/Getty Images

“Big step forward for this kid,” GM and President of Baseball Ops Mike Rizzo told Audacy’s The Sports Junkies the morning after Herz’s debut.

“He’s come pretty fast from when we acquired him, and he’s earned it.

“He has good stuff, he’s a young 23 as a high school draftee [2019, 8th Round], so he’s just scratching the surface.

“I like the fact he got his feet wet against a veteran Mets’ lineup and held his own; he’s learned you have to live in the strike zone.

“When he does, he can dominate a game. Strike throwing is a big part of his arsenal, and when he commands the baseball he can do big things.

“I think this is a big step forward for him and his development.”

Herz picked up 15 swinging strikes, 10 on his fastball (57%), which averaged 93.7 MPH and got up to 95.6, and he got nine called strikes, five on his four-seamer, and three on his cut fastball (16%), mixing in his changeup (25%), and slider (1%).

“He has good stuff. He’s got plenty of fastball with movement, a good breaking pitch, and a devastating changeup,” Rizzo said.

“Those three pitches, you blend that in with above-average command, and you have yourself a really good left-handed starting pitcher.”

Martinez said he was interested in seeing Herz work in start No. 2 without the nervousness of his MLB debut.

“I think he’ll be a little bit more relaxed,” Martinez said. “Again, he’s facing a tough team, so it’s about attacking the strike zone. I know he’s talked to [Pitching Strategist Sean] Doolittle, [Pitching Coach Jim] Hickey and those guys about just staying within yourself, utilizing all his pitches. His changeup is really good, but his fastball command — we want it to be crisp, and like I said, just be around the zone. I’m looking forward to watching him again, like I said, the nerves should be a little bit better today.”

Going up against the Atlanta Braves in start No. 2 in the big leagues, Herz waited out a delay of around 35 minutes before taking the mound, and retiring the side in order in the first, but he ran into trouble in the second.

Herz issued a one-out walk to Adam Duvall, threw a wild pitch which allowed Duvall to take second, gave up a single by Travis d’Arnaud which put runners on the corners, and then an RBI singe by Michael Harris II, 1-0 Braves. A walk to Orlando Arcia, and another wild one let the second run of the game in, 2-0, during a contentious at-bat with Jared Kelenic in which Herz’s loss of command up and in angered the outfielder (understandably?), but he got a K from Kelenic, then retired Ozzie Albies to end a 33-pitch frame.

Photo by Jess Rapfogel/Getty Images

He worked around a two-out in the third, and retired the side in order in the fourth, but with a 7-2 lead after a seven-run bottom of the fourth inning, he gave up a leadoff hit by Kelenic, and issued a one-out walk to Austin Riley on his 87th and final pitch.

This time out he got 13 swinging and 14 called strikes overall, with 7 of 13 whiffs and 8 of 14 called strikes on his four-seamer.

Retiring 8 of 9 after the trouble in the second, was a good way to put the rough frame behind him, though 2 of 3 reached in the fifth before he was done.

“I just needed a reset. Talking with Doolittle, it was like: It happened. Let it go,” Herz said of rebounding in the outing in what ended up an 8-5 win for the Nationals, who took 3 of 4 in the second four-game set with the Braves so far this season.

Herz took it pitch by pitch after the struggles and finished strong.

“Move on to the next. Go back out there. These guys are going to put runs up, and sure enough it happened.”

The seven-run fourth for the home team featured a one-out single by Lane Thomas, a walk by Jessie Winker, a two-out RBI single by Luis García, a three-run home run by Keibert Ruiz, who hit a first-pitch heater down and in from debuting right-hander Hurston Waldrep out to right field, and a base-clearing double by CJ Abrams, which followed a walk by Nick Senzel, a single by Joey Gallo, and a base-loading walk by Jacob Young.

Abrams lined a first-pitch sinker down and in from reliever Aaron Bummer out to right field, 7-2.

“What I like the best is that we took our walks, and then we got the big hit,” Martinez said in his post game press conference.

“At first, I was like: ‘Holy mackerel, we’re just going to go up there and swing.’

“Then we started taking our walks, and good things started to happen. So, we preach all the time, ‘Hey, the little things help us win games,’ and part of that little things on offense is taking your walks. We did that today, and then we had a big inning. Keibert with the big home run, CJ with a big bases-clearing double.

“If we can continue to do that, we’ll put some runs on the board. When we get the ball in the zone, we’re starting to hit the ball pretty hard, so I liked the at-bats today, for sure.”

“I don’t mind being aggressive,” Martinez said of his team’s approach at another point in the post game. “We talk about it all the time. But you’ve got to get the ball in the zone. We can’t just swing at everything. It’s talked a lot in the dugout about it. And then when they finally do it, the results are a lot better. We start seeing pitches, we start getting the ball in the zone, pitchers start falling behind, we get a good pitch to hit. Keibert swung first pitch, but the ball was in the zone, right where he wants it. So that’s the way we’ve got to hit.”

The manager said he thought Ruiz was able to help Herz through his troubles as well.

“I really thought that Keibert did a great job with him, I really did. He started mixing pitches up, getting them back in the zone.

“He was off quite a bit there for a little while, and we thought, ‘Oh boy!’ you know. But Keibert got him down back and settled down a little bit and got a big out for us.”

“The first inning, [Herz] went through it pretty good, second inning, felt a little bit — got a little erratic, but he settled down, and that’s what I loved about him. He got back in there, he gave us four-plus innings, which we needed, and he kept the game right there for us. The pitch count got a little up. I went out there and I could tell he was a little gassed, but he did well, he did well, so I’m proud of him, because a situation like that, and a good team like that, he was able to get composed and throw a strike when he needed to, get out of a big jam there, and keep us in the ballgame after that.”