Washington Nationals news & notes: MacKenzie Gore with one to build on; Kyle Finnegan stays + more…

Notes and quotes on the Nationals’ lefty and the club’s closer…

A START TO BUILD ON:

MacKenzie Gore did give up a total of eight hits and three runs (all of them earned) in 5 ¹⁄₃ innings on the mound Wednesday afternoon in Arizona, and he didn’t get a lot of swings and misses (7), or Ks (1), but he walked just one batter during his 98-pitch appearance, which, all together, was an improvement over his previous few outings (4 GS, 10.80 ERA, 5.83 FIP, .318/.436/.508 line against in 15 IP).

“I really liked it,” manager Davey Martinez said of Gore’s 22nd start of the season.

“He was a lot more efficient. He got us into the sixth inning with like 83 pitches, I think it was, but he was much better today, you know, I loved the efficiency. He was pounding the strike zone. I thought he threw the ball really well.”

Gore threw 63 of 98 pitches for strikes, and he did pick up 14 called strikes, 10 with his fastball, and four on his curve.

“We didn’t get a lot of swing-and-miss, and strikeouts,” Gore told reporters, as quoted by MASN’s Mark Zuckerman, but also, “… there wasn’t a ton of two-strike counts. That’s kind of the game plan they had the whole series. I think it was a little mix of my stuff not being as good, and also they were aggressive.”

Gore’s velo was down across the board, on all his pitches. Was it part of a plan? Did he dial it back a bit hoping for better command? Was it intentional?

“No, I think it just kind of happened,” the Nationals’ skipper explained.

“I think we worked on some things with him, he wanted to get the ball over the plate, you know, and he did well. He threw the ball down for the most part, elevated when he needed to, his slider was a little better, so we thought he did a good job today.”

It was, in the end, a mostly positive way to wrap up a tough month for the 25-year-old left-hander, who went from a 3.47 ERA, a 3.00 FIP, and .268/.333/.386 line against on July 1st, to 4.54, 3.40, .279/.352/.410 on the year.

“We can build off of that, right?” Martinez said of Wednesday’s outing.

“So now we’ll get him back out there in 5-6 days, and then hopefully he’ll finish the season up strong. I’m proud of him, because we went through a lot the past month. He came out today to a very good-hitting team, those guys have been swinging the bats really well, and pitched well.”

Gore said it was a tough stretch for all of the Nationals, who dealt with trade rumors, and eventual trades, which shook up the big league roster, and then they were hammered in Tuesday’s 17-0 loss on their way to a sweep by the D-backs.

“It’s been a frustrating week for us, with all that’s happened,” Gore said.

“We’ve got to figure out how to reset tomorrow on this off-day and figure out what we want to do as a group these last two months.”

TRADE DEADLINE LEFTOVERS:

Davey Martinez called Kyle Finnegan into his office just after the 6:00 PM ET Trade Deadline passed this past Tuesday.

Finnegan, rumored to be highly-sought after (for the past few seasons, really), was once again talked about this year, and when players like Hunter Harvey and Lane Thomas who were both in similar situations (team control/contract-wise) were dealt, there was more speculation Finnegan could be next.

There were no reports of a deal after the deadline passed, but still…

“You know there’s always ones that can trickle in after the clock strikes zero,” the Nationals’ closer said, “… so he called me into the office, and it was a little interesting to go in there, and he just had a big smile on his face and said, ‘You’re a Nat.’ So we laughed about it and shared a hug and got excited about the future.”

“It was weird,” Martinez joked. “He had kind of that look on his face that he didn’t believe me. I brought him in like at [6:02 ET]. I don’t have favorites, cause they’re all my favorites really.

“But he’s the one guy I count on to pitch at the back end of the bullpen. It’s nice that he’s still here and he’s going to get an opportunity to save games for us.”

GM and President of Baseball Operations Mike Rizzo told reporters Tuesday night why a deal for Finnegan didn’t happen in the end.

“It had to be market value,” he explained:

“That’s what we were shooting for. This guy pitches at the back of a baseball game. He’s proven that he can handle the closer’s role. I don’t think we were asking for anything extravagant, but we did want market value for a closer that has another year of control. And that had a lot to do with it. We weren’t handcuffed or forced to move a player because his contract’s expiring or financial ramifications. We like this player. We think that he’s going to help us this year and next year and he’s a wonderful person, and he’s a good relief pitcher, he takes the ball whenever Davey hands it to him, and very selfless in that regard. He’s our bulldog and our guy in the ninth inning. None of the deals in our mind reached the eye-level of the market, so we were having conversation til the end, and see if some deals changed, but at the end of the day we didn’t get a deal that we were comfortable with and we didn’t have to move the player and we really like having him at the back of the bullpen.”

Finnegan too was happy to stay put with the Nationals.

“I’m happy to be a National, and we can put this behind us and focus on winning games. I was at peace with whatever happened. But I’m happy to be here.”

Seeing the Nationals set a high bar in a return and hold on when it wasn’t met meant a lot to the reliever, as did the interest from other teams.

“It’s great to have the confidence of your GM and your manager,” he said.

“I owe a lot in my career to [Rizzo] and Davey. They’ve given me unbelievable opportunities and have really helped me grow as a player. So to feel valued and wanted is great, and I hope to continue to play well, and I’m inspired to finish the season strong, and get excited for next year.”