Notes and quotes on the Nationals’ 7-1 loss in the finale in the Rangers’ home…
MITCHELL PARKER IN TEXAS:
Mitchell Parker, in his third start in the majors, dealt with some adversity, but handled it well.
Parker gave up leadoff and one-out singles and a base-loading walk in the first inning of the outing last weekend in Miami, then threw a wild pitch which allowed a run to score.
A second walk, his first two in the majors, after he’d struggled walking batters in the minors, loaded the bases back up, but he got out No. 3, and held the opposition to the one run over four innings, in an 82-pitch outing.
“He struggled a little bit,” Nationals’ manager Davey Martinez acknowledged after the start, “… but he kept his poise.
“He had some high-leverage situations throughout the first couple of innings. And he got out of it. So that’s good to see that he can manage through when he’s not feeling all that great today.
Photo by Ron Jenkins/Getty Images
“He kept us in the ballgame, which is great.”
“I’m not gonna have everything every day,” Parker said, as quoted by MASN’s Bobby Blanco.
“So being able to just compete and keep as close of a game as we could. To hold us in it and give us the best chance to win, it was a good game. Got a good win.
“The offense carried me there a little bit, so it was really good.”
Going up against the Rangers in the series finale in Arlington, Texas on Thursday afternoon, Parker ran into trouble in the second, after a 1-2-3 first, with a one-out single and walk and a two-out RBI double which drove in a run.
2-out damage. #StraightUpTX pic.twitter.com/TaNwjeN5Il
— Texas Rangers (@Rangers) May 2, 2024
Joey Meneses misplayed (deflected) a ground ball to first base in the next at-bat, allowing a second run to score and extending the inning, then an RBI single followed, 3-0 Rangers.
Parker held it there through five and got one out in the sixth (after giving up a leadoff single and a walk), and the runners he left on were stranded.
“I thought the kid pitched really well. He kept us in the ballgame,” Martinez said after what ended up a 7-1 loss, in which the Nats’ offense failed to do much of anything against right-hander Nathan Eovaldi or the Rangers’ relievers.
“I thought the game should’ve been 1-0 til the end,” Martinez said, noting he thought the run which came on and the one after Meneses’s misplay probably should not have come around.
“Yeah, I think that play should have been made. I mean, it was hit hard, but it’s probably one step — but other than that inning, [Parker] threw the ball really well.”
“It could’ve went better,” Parker said, as quoted by MASN’s Mark Zuckerman after the game:
“I wasn’t making pitches, really, when I needed to be. I was leaving a lot of things in the zone and giving up more hits, more contact, more runs than we were hoping for.”
In the end, of course, the Nationals, who scored two runs total in the series (winning a 1-0 game after a 7-1 loss in the series opener), dropping two of three, weren’t able to get their bats going in the finale.
“We got to start hitting the ball up the middle,” Martinez said. “If our lineup is going to start getting going a little bit, we got to start getting some stuff going. We get guys on base and can’t put 3-4 hits together, so we got to get going, but other than that, we had a good road trip, we really did. Get back home now and try to go 1-0 tomorrow.”
RIZZO ON MARCH/APRIL:
Washington Nationals’ manager Davey Martinez talked after their series opening loss in Arlington, TX on Tuesday night, about his club finishing the first month-plus of their ‘24 campaign at 14-15.
“You look back, and there’s some games we could have won, we could have been above .500, right?” Martinez asked rhetorically. “But overall, we’re playing good baseball, we’re playing hard, our pitchers have done well, other than today our bullpen has been pretty good, so we got to keep going. It’s April, it’s nice to win games in April.
“Now we’re going into May. I break the season down and I always tell myself, ‘We can win 15 games a month, that’s pretty good.’ So let’s win 16 next month.”
Martinez’s boss, GM and President of Baseball ops Mike Rizzo, told Audacy’s The Sports Junkies on Wednesday morning he’s been impressed with the job the Nats’ skipper has done early in his seventh season on the bench.
Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images
“I thought we ended April on a strong note,” Rizzo said. “We went on that long 10-day road trip and we fared pretty well, 5-4, then take two out of three from Houston before you run into that Dodgers club that was hot at the time.”
“I like the way we ended April,” he added. “We take that momentum into May, and I think we’re playing pretty good baseball.
“Playing fast, making our share of young mistakes, but I think that all in all, I like the trajectory of where we’re going.”
Martinez, he said, and his staff, are trying to play to the players’ strengths and get the most they can out of the players on the roster.
Especially when it comes to the running game.
“Davey’s got them in an aggressive mindset,” Rizzo said. “Some kudos go to him and Gerardo Parra, he’s our base running coach, and kind of instilling that aggressive nature. At times we still run ourselves out of innings and attempt things that I don’t think are smart at times, but I like the mindset. They’re being really aggressive, and let’s give Darnell Coles some credit too; you can’t steal first base, so they’re getting on base at a rate where they can steal bases. It’s a pretty speed-packed lineup with four or five guys that can steal bases, and I think that Davey’s utilizing that aspect of our strength to our advantage.”
Martinez, asked on Wednesday about his goals for the club in May, was predictably on-message:
“Keep going 1-0 every day, right? I don’t think too far ahead,” he said. “I’m focused on the now, let’s just get off to a good start today, and keep going. I think we played well in April, and I think we can get better. So, we’re going to keep going and keep pushing, and keep playing the style we’ve been playing.”