Notes and quotes on the Nationals before the start of their series with the Mariners tonight…
GETTING GALLO GOING:
Davey Martinez had Joey Gallo batting 7th in the Nationals’ lineup for the series finale with the Twins on Wednesday (as he was the whole series), and the slugger went 0 for 4 in the loss, with two Ks, in big situations.
Gallo hit a fly to right field with a runner on and two out the first time up, and with two on and two out in his second plate appearance, before striking out looking with two on and no outs in his third at-bat, and swinging with a runner in scoring position the final time up in a 3-2 loss.
The 0-for left Gallo 3 for 21 (.143/.217/.191) with a double, a walk, and 11 Ks in 23 PAs since he returned to the lineup after missing 17 games with an AC sprain in his right shoulder.
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“I thought with the shoulder it was affecting me a little bit hitting,” Gallo explained once he recovered and was reinstated from a rehab stint, “… and I thought that wasn’t really fair to the team or to myself, so that was part of the reason I thought it was good to miss some time and just get back to being full strength where I can affect the game the way I know I can.”
Considering he started the season with a .122/.286/.311 line over 23 games and 91 PAs in March/April, Gallo was asked if he saw it as an opportunity to start over again.
“I guess starting all over again — you’re never really starting all over again,” Gallo said.
“Obviously the scoreboard is going to be whatever it is. But for me it’s just going out and trying to play and enjoy the game, help the team win any way I can.”
“The big thing about Gallo is he takes his walks when he’s good, and he hits home runs,” manager Davey Martinez said after the loss on Wednesday, when asked about Gallo failing to make productive contact with runners on (and in scoring position — and he’s 2 for 25, .080/.233/.240 with one double, one home run, five walks, and 14 Ks in 30 PAs with RISP on the season).
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Joey Meneses homered to make it a one-run game in the ninth inning of the series finale in D.C., and Gallo came up with a runner on and a chance to win it for the home team.
“In a certain situation he can come up there and end the game for us right there,” Martinez said. “That’s just who he is. So, we knew that when we got him. We’re hoping that he gets hot, and we start to see that. Taking his walks, I think is going to be the key. He’s got to take his walks. He’s chasing a little bit, he’s just got to learn how to take his walks, and when he gets a good pitch to hit, he’s fouling them back, so that tells me he’s got to get on time, and start hitting the ball out front.”
MENESES TOO:
Joey Meneses homered for the second time in 43 games and 187 PAs in the ninth inning on Wednesday afternoon, hitting a 2-1 splitter low and in from the Twins’ closer Jhoan Duran 393 ft. to left, at 101+ MPH off the bat.
oh hello pic.twitter.com/sjqCAnZBll
— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) May 22, 2024
His manager, in Davey Martinez’s post game presser, told reporters a blast like that could help the slugger build confidence after his own slow start to the season offensively.
Meneses’s 2 for 4 game left him 39 for 167 (.234/.300/.299) with the two HRs, five doubles, 15 walks, and 37 Ks over 43 games and 187 PAs on the year.
“He’s starting to swing the bat well. That guy is not easy to hit neither, Duran, he’s really good, so for [Meneses] to connect like that was definitely awesome, and hopefully he carries it over to the next game.”
It’s not just Gallo and Meneses struggling at the plate, of course, with the Nationals as a team getting solid pitching but not a lot of consistent offensive production in a 7-12 month of May so far (after a 14-15 start to the season in March/April). What do they need to do to finish May strong?
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“We just got to — our approach has got to be a little more aggressive in the zone,” Martinez said. “We got to stop chasing. Our shortstop [CJ Abrams is] chasing a lot. We’ve got to get him back in the zone, start swinging at strikes. For me, he’s got to get on base for us. And some of these other guys: We got to get Keibert [Ruiz] going a little bit. But like I’ve said before, it seems like when one guy or two guys hit, it’s contagious, everybody starts — so we just got to keep that train going. Get on base. Guys start feeling good about themselves. We score early, they start to loosen up a little bit, and that’s when we score. It didn’t happen today again, but we got to come back Friday, we got a good team coming in here, so we got to be ready. Seattle, we got to be ready to play.”
The Nationals could get a boost with Lane Thomas’s return to the lineup, when he’s ready to come off his rehab stint, though Martinez wouldn’t commit to Thomas coming back tonight.
“I don’t know. We’ll see how he’s doing. I want to make sure that he’s ready to go.”