MacKenzie Gore struggled again, and the Nationals lost the finale with the Angels after taking the first 2 of 3 in D.C.
“At some point we need to stop having these conversations about making progress,” left-handed starter MacKenzie Gore told reporters after giving up eight hits (two of them HRs) two walks, and five runs (four earned) in five innings on the mound against San Francisco last week in Nationals Park, “… because I’m better than this.”
“I’m better than the way I’m pitching right now. I do need to pitch better,” he added.
“Of course I want to pitch better,” he said. “But I did figure out a way to get through five, I got after people, and hopefully build off of this.”
Four of the hits, four of the runs the Giants scored with him on the hill, and one of the walks he gave up came in the first of his five innings in the outing, but he settled in after that, and gave up four hits, a walk, and one more run over the next four frames.
Photo by Greg Fiume/Getty Images
“He really settled down,” manager Davey Martinez said. “Started throwing strikes. Started trusting his fastball, he really threw some good fastballs, and got some good outs for us.”
Gore actually earned a W in the outing, an 11-6 win for Washington, but if left him with a 7.24 ERA, a 4.79 FIP, and a .314/.398/.491 line against in a nine-start, 41-inning stretch, following a run of 14 starts to begin the season in which he had a 3.24 ERA, 2.95 FIP, and .262/.327/.383 line against in 75 IP.
Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to build on the last few innings against the Giants in Sunday’s start against the LA Angels.
He walked two and gave up a single in a scoreless, 29-pitch inning, and stranded one-out singles in the second and third, but fell apart in the fourth, for Gore and the Nats’ defense, with a leadoff walk, then a single, an ROE on a grounder to third baseman José Tena, 1-0, a second walk, double play on which a run scored, and back-to-back, two-out free passes to load the bases before Kevin Pillar’s base-clearing double to let field, 5-0.
Pillar brings in 3⃣!#RepTheHalo pic.twitter.com/xYpIyDNUZW
— Los Angeles Angels (@Angels) August 11, 2024
He was up to 86 total pitches and was done for the day…
MacKenzie Gore’s season to date …
First 11 starts: 2.91 ERA, 1.278 WHIP, 2.6 BB/9
Last 13 starts: 6.02 ERA, 1.842 WHIP, 5.1 BB/9— Mark Zuckerman (@MarkZuckerman) August 11, 2024
Gore walked a career-high six batters overall, on the way to the Nationals walking 13 total on the day in a 6-4 loss to the Angels.
“This has been tough,” Gore said of the extended stretch in which he’s struggled, as quoted by MASN’s Mark Zuckerman.
“Trying to figure out how to get back to pitching well and giving us a good chance to win every time out. I haven’t figured it out yet, but I’m going to keep working. I’ve got the right people around me, and I think we’re doing the right things before the starts. I’m just not executing when I get out there.”
“We’ve just got to keep working with him,” Martinez said, as quoted by MLB.com’s Melanie Martinez-Lopez. “He’s got to understand that strike one for him is going to be his best pitch. He was 4-for-17 getting ahead of hitters today and he just falls behind, … and the fouls balls, he’s got to work ahead and stay ahead.”
Hitters fouled of 19 of Gore’s 86 offerings, including 10 fastballs, and seven sliders, and he got just seven swinging and eight called strikes on the day.
“I felt like there were a lot of foul balls today,” he said. “I’m not entirely sure if it’s because we’re a tick down in velo*, or if the stuff has ticked down, why they’re not popping it up or missing it. They’re fouling it off. There were some at-bats where that happened today.”
[ed. note – “ * = He was, on everything but his changeup.”]
“He’s got good stuff, he really does, so we just got to keep harping on it,” Martinez stressed.
“Mechanically, today,” the skipper said, “I thought he looked fine, the ball’s coming out well, it’s just the constant 3-2, 3-2, 3-2, and foul, foul, foul, and then walking guys.”
ALSO THIS:
New National José Tena, whose walk-off hit in his Nationals debut made him the first player in franchise history (MON/WAS) to collect a walk-off hit in his first game with the ballclub injured his finger on a potential double play grounder in the fifth, and he left the game after the play, replaced at third by Ildemaro Vargas.
Apparently, he just cut his thumbnail on the play.
“Thank goodness José’s OK. His nail’s a little beat up, but he’s going to be fine,” manager Davey Martinez said after the game.