Washington Nationals news & notes: Dylan Crews hits first MLB HR in 5-2 win over the Yankees + Gore is Gore again…

Notes and quotes on Dylan Crews hitting his first MLB HR and MacKenzie Gore returning to form…

GORE GORE AGAIN:

For just the second time in 26 starts this year, MacKenzie Gore avoided walking any batters in his six-inning, 88-pitch outing against the Braves last week in Atlanta.

Gore, 25, gave up just one run on seven hits in Truist Park, striking out four of the 24 batters he faced in a 3-2 loss in which he received no decision.

Gore collected a total of 13 swinging and 13 called strikes (10 on his fastball) in the outing, which was a much-needed bounce-back for the lefty, who said his ability to avoid walks in the start was a key to his success.

“That was important,” Gore explained, as quoted by MASN’s Mark Zuckerman.

“Walks can really hurt you, especially when they come in bunches. There’s always situations in a game where you don’t want to give in and throw a cookie, but I thought when we got in certain counts tonight, we went after guys and we were able to put them away.”

“I thought we got ahead of guys,” he added, as quoted on MLB.com. “I thought when we did get behind, we got right back in with aggressive pitches. I thought the stuff was fine. [Not walking anyone] was important. … When we got in certain counts tonight, we went at guys and were able to put them away.”

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“Today he was focused on just keeping the ball down for the most part,” Nationals’ manager Davey Martinez said, “… and throwing strikes. When he did that he got outs.””

Gore gave up a solo home run by Jazz Chisholm, Jr. in the second inning of Wednesday’s win over the New York Yankees in the nation’s capital, and Aaron Judge drove in a run to make it a 5-2 game in Washington’s favor in the fifth, and that was all the Nationals’ lefty allowed in what ended up being a six-inning, 102-pitch outing in which he issued one walk and struck out six of the 26 batters he faced.

Got got 14 swinging and 18 called strikes overall in the start, eight of each on his fastball, which he threw 53% of the time, with his velocity up a tick on his average for the year for the first time in a while.

“I thought we were just kind of explosive, down the mound, stuff was good. Average fastball velo was back where it needs to be. I felt good,” Gore said.

As for why the velo was down a tick in recent outings before bumping up against NY?

“It’s a long season and you got through periods of time where you just don’t feel as good,” the southpaw told reporters, “and really that’s all I got for you.

“You keep trying to get your body ready to roll, and credit to the medical staff here, but it’s just kind of you feel good sometimes, and sometimes you don’t.”

The fact his velo was still there in the sixth was a positive for Gore.

“Usually if I’ve got it in the first, I’m going to have it in the sixth,” he said, after picking up two of his six Ks in the sixth inning. “That’s just kind of how I’ve always been.

“But that’s great, to be able to hold the velo throughout the game is important, when you need to go get something, to be able to go get it in the sixth like we did tonight.”

CREWS HITS FIRST MLB HR:

Davey Martinez talked before last night’s game about the decision to put Dylan Crews in the leadoff spot, in the 22-year-old outfielder’s third game in the majors (with CJ Abrams sitting after he led off in the first two games of the three-game set with the Yankees in D.C.).

“I would really like him to hit up at the top because he does take pitches,” Martinez said as quoted on MLB.com. “He understands the strike zone but yet he’s aggressive.”

Crews went 2 for 7 with a double in the first two games after he was called up on Monday, and he was up top for the series finale, against a left-handed starter.

He started his third game in the majors with a home run off Carlos Rodón on a 1-0 pitch up in the zone inside Crews hit 399 ft. to left-center field, his first in the big leagues (and 14th in 103 games overall between Double-A, Triple-A, and the major leagues this year).

Crews K’d looking the second time up, but doubled in his third trip to the plate, on a first-pitch fastball from Rodon just off middle-middle, driving in a run to make it 5-1 on the way towards a 5-2 win.

“He got ready early, and he jumped on a fastball,” Martinez said of Crews’s two-run shot.

“It was awesome. It was good to see. I’m not going say I called it, but I had a pretty good feeling.

“I said, ‘If he can get the ball down he’ll have a good day.’ And he smoked two balls that were down in the zone and really had a good day for us.”

“I think it just matches into the way I play: Aggressive, and wanting to get something started early,” Crews told reporters after the game, as quoted by MASN’s Mark Zuckerman. “I led off in college a little bit, then led off in Triple-A, Double-A as well. So, nothing new for me.”

Which is a good thing, because Martinez said he’s likely to lead off on Friday, after a day off for the club today.

“Friday we have another lefty,” he said, “so he’ll be back in the leadoff spot and we’ll take it from there.”