Notes and quotes coming off an off-day for the Nationals…
NO PRESSURE:
Coming off back-to-back shutout losses in Chicago’s Guaranteed Rate Field, Nats’ skipper Davey Martinez acknowledged the obvious, the club’s offense is sputtering, and as all the innings without runs pile up so does the pressure to produce.
“It does boil down to just getting that one hit, and I think we score a couple runs, everybody relaxes, things start happening. We just can’t get it done,” Martinez said after Wednesday’s 2-0 loss to the White Sox.
Martinez’s club was in each of the three games with the Sox, and they won one of the three because the pitching kept the score close while they all waited for the bats to come alive at the right time.
Photo by Nuccio DiNuzzo/Getty Images
“Our pitching has been really, really good,” Martinez said, following Patrick Corbin’s 5 2⁄3-inning outing, in which Corbin gave up just two runs (and don’t look now, but the veteran left-hander has a 3.24 ERA and a 3.17 FIP in his last three starts and 16 2⁄3 IP).
“Our pitching is keeping us in the ballgame, and I keep saying, ‘We’re close. We’re close. We’ve just got to put a couple games together where we’re knocking in some runs, and then we forget about all this and we take off. So we got to keep our heads up, we’ve got to start to work better at-bats, get the ball in the zone — especially with guys on base — let’s just get the ball in the zone and be aggressive. Be aggressive.
“Hey, take your hacks up there, let’s see what happens.”
After going 0 for 8 with runners in scoring position and seven left on base in Tuesday’s 4-0 loss, the Nationals went 0 for 9 with RISP and nine left on base in the second shutout loss.
Martinez said the quick break they had Thursday should help everyone relax, focus, and get the bats going in Citizens Bank Park.
“We get a day off tomorrow,” Martinez explained, “… we come back, we got to be ready to play in Philly. I mean, we got to score some runs there, so we’ll come back Friday and we’ll bang heads with the Phillies.”
Photo by Nuccio DiNuzzo/Getty Images
As for how the club could potentially change things up on nights when they’re not swinging it well or coming up with the big hit?
“We are who we are,” he said. “We’ve got guys out there, and we just have to keep working with them. I’ve seen signs where they were going to come out of it, and then we start hitting. And now, in the last two games, it just didn’t happen. The first game yesterday, we scored runs, so we just got to continue to keep working, keep talking about it.
“I think the whole thing now is that it becomes more pressure. When one guy can’t do it, the next guy comes up, and there’s that much more pressure.
“So we’ve just got to keep battling.”
KEIBERT RUIZ AT THE PLATE:
“He’s starting to swing the bat a little bit better,” Davey Martinez told reporters after Keibert Ruiz came up with a big pinch hit in the Nats’ one win in their series with the White Sox this week.
Since coming off the IL after a rough bout of influenza, Ruiz, who reportedly lost 18-20 lbs. while dealing with the illness, has struggled at the plate.
He went 0 for 8 with three Ks in four plate appearances in the series finale with the Sox, and in 16 games and 63 PAs since the IL stint, and two rehab starts in the minors, Ruiz is 7 for 61, (.115/.143/.164), with a home run, a walk, and 12 Ks.
“He’s another one that needs to get the ball in the zone and not chase,” Martinez said during the series in Chicago.
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“When he does that, he’s going to put the ball in play, we all know that, so I thought it was a good matchup for him right there, and he did a great job and knocked in a run for us.”
Following the finale in Guaranteed Rate Field, the manager was asked if what was going on with the catcher now was a result of the illness, and the toll it took on Ruiz. Or is he past all that, and just struggling?
“I think he’s past that point,” Martinez said.
“He’s got to get a little bit more aggressive in the zone. He’s an aggressive hitter, as we all know, but he’s got to start swinging at the right pitches, and let it go. Don’t feel for it. He’s going to have to start getting up there and letting it go.”