Washington Nationals news & notes: CJ Abrams optioned to Triple-A; MacKenzie Gore dominates in no-hit bid…

Notes and quotes from the Nationals’ 5-1 win over the Cubs in Wrigley Field on Saturday…

CJ ABRAMS OPTIONED TO TRIPLE-A:

Before Saturday afternoon’s game, Washington’s Nationals optioned 23-year-old shortstop CJ Abrams to Triple-A Rochester, effectively ending his season.

Davey Martinez assured reporters it was an internal issue, rather than performance-related when he spoke before the third game of four with the Cubs in Chicago’s Wrigley Field.

“I just want it to be known, it wasn’t performance-based. It’s an internal issue. I’m not going to give specifics, or talk about specifics,” Martinez said. “Because I need to keep these guys and everything on the down-low. I got other guys out there that I want to support. I’m going to support CJ, he’s a big part of our Nats family and he will be. But at this point, for me, it was the right thing to do, so with that being said, I had conversations with CJ yesterday, we talked for a while, and like I said, for right now it was the right thing to do. And that’s all I really wanted to say about it. He’s going to be missed.

“As we all know. But it has nothing to do with his performance. The kid was a 20/30 guy. So, I know he struggled a little bit, but so does every young player, but he was doing well.”

Martinez declined to comment on a report of Abrams staying in a Chicago area casino the other night until 8:00 AM, before a 1:20 CT start time in Wrigley.

“I’m not going to get into any specifics. I’m going to handle this internally,” he said.

Abrams put up a .268/.343/.489 line with 21 doubles, six triples, and 15 home runs over 89 games and 398 plate appearances in the so-called first half of the season, but his 12 for 33 stretch in the last nine games had him at .203/.260/.326 with eight doubles and five home runs in 49 games and 204 PAs out of the All-Star break, after he was named an All-Star for the first time this year.

Martinez said he hoped the shortstop, acquired along with MacKenzie Gore, James Wood, outfield prospect Robert Hassell III, and pitching prospect Jarlin Susana (and Luke Voit) in the Juan Soto/Josh Bell trade at the ‘22 deadline, would be better off in the end.

“I assure you that he’ll be better. He will be,” Martinez said. “We talked a long time yesterday, and last night before we made any decisions. I know that he wants to be here. He expressed that very much. He’s going to miss his teammates. But without getting into any details, this was the right thing to do.”

GORE FLIRTS WITH NO-NO:

Over his previous five starts, before Saturday afternoon’s in Wrigley Field, MacKenzie Gore, who had struggled out of the gate in the second half, (7.00 ERA, 5.62 FIP, .350/.434/.547 line against in 27 IP), put up respectable numbers (1.95 ERA (12 R/6 ER), 3.61 FIP, .212/.272/.356 line against in 27 ²⁄₃ IP).

“I think we kind of were in a funk,” Gore told reporters, after his six-inning, 93-pitch outing against Miami last week in D.C. (in which he gave up two hits, two walks, and one unearned run), “… and we’ve gotten out of it, so it’s been good to kind of pitch better lately.”

“Just attacking the strike zone,” manager Davey Martinez said before Gore faced the Fish, when he was asked what was working for the lefty in recent outings.

“Competing, pitch efficiency … as we all talk about, he’s got electric stuff, it’s about pounding the strike zone.”

Martinez talked about how all of Gore’s pitches work off one another when he’s at his best.

“He’s been throwing the fastball down a lot more, which is great, and that’s what makes the changeup that much better,” the manager explained.

“When you’re throwing your fastball up and trying to throw your changeup down, it’s easy to make adjustments as a hitter. So when he keeps his fastball down, changeup down, his curveball has been better because of it.”

Going up against the Cubs yesterday in Chicago’s Wrigley Field, Gore took a no-hit bid into the seventh inning, hitting one batter, and walking three, in 6 ¹⁄₃ before he finally gave up a hit, a solo home run on center-cut first pitch fastball Cubbies’ DH Patrick Wisdom hit out of Wrigley Field. Gore recovered to get the final two outs of the home seventh, wrapping up a 94-pitch, 61-strike, 9-K day in a 5-1 win for the visitors.

He picked up 13 swinging strikes, nine on his fastball, and 14 called strikes, seven with the four-seamer he threw 66% of the time (up from 55% average on the year).

“He was really good. His tempo was really, really good today. It looked like he slowed everything down and he was just really attacking the strike zone,” Martinez said.

“But all of his stuff was electric. He pitched really well today. And I’m proud of him because he battled in the middle there, and he’s finishing up strong, which we love.”

Two of Gore’s walks came in back-to-back matchups to start the fifth, but he got a double play grounder and a swinging K to get out of the inning with his no-hit bid intact.

Gore wasn’t happy about the walks.

“He’s a perfectionist. He wants to be really good. There was a couple times today where he came in, either walk a guy, or we got out of the inning, but he was still upset because he walked a guy. But I told him, ‘Hey, you got to focus on the now, man. That’s over, let’s go.’”