Washington Nationals news & notes: Nats drop opener to Rockies, 3-1; Offense can’t muster much…

Notes and quotes from the series opener with the Rockies in Nationals Park…

HERZ AFTER THE FIRST…

DJ Herz gave up a one-out double, and back-to-back singles in the top of the first inning last night in the nation’s capital, with a run scoring on the third hit to make it 1-0 Rockies early in the series opener in Nationals Park, but Washington’s 23-year-old left-hander settled in after his 28-pitch opening frame, and then stayed in the game for 5 2/3, retiring 12 straight hitters between the second and sixth.

Herz gave up leadoff and one-out singles in the Rockies’ sixth, but got two outs, and got up 0-2 on the next batter before giving up a two-out single on a grounder which went right by the pitcher and a diving CJ Abrams up the middle for an RBI hit and a 2-0 lead.

That was all for the starter, with one of the runners he left on scoring to make it a 3-0 game.

Herz threw 93 pitches total, 61 for strikes, with 13 swinging and 13 called strikes overall, nine of each on his fastball, which he threw 54% of the time, mixing in his changeup (27%), slider (18%), and one knuckle curve (1%).

“He was really good after that [first inning], he just attacked the zone, worked ahead,” Nats’ skipper Davey Martinez told reporters after a 3-1 loss. “[Herz] got early swing outs … but he was really good. But he was around the plate. He threw the ball the first inning well, but the balls they hit were middle-middle, and he settled down and started pitching really well, and utilizing all his pitches. He kept us in the game. It’s the furthest he’s gone in a while, but he threw the ball well.”

“He didn’t get rattled after that first inning. He knew he had to be a little bit more efficient, and he went out there and did that,” Martinez added at another point.

“I thought I pitched well,” Herz said, as quoted by MASN’s Mark Zuckerman, echoing what his manager said. “I gave my team a chance to win.”

“Over his last six starts,” the Nationals highlighted in the post game notes, “… [Herz has] posted a 3.07 ERA (10 ER/29.1 IP) with a .216 opponent’s batting average and 34 strikeouts.”

Martinez said the pitcher, ranked 12th in the organization before his MLB debut earlier this season, has really come into his own over the course of the year, discovering things about himself along the way.

“He’s starting to really understand that, one, he can pitch here, and two, is that he doesn’t have to rely on striking guys out, or hey, here we go, I’m just going to work ahead,” Martinez said, “… get ahead, and try to get early swings and some misses, but when he’s around the plate he does that. He uses his fastball a lot, and then he goes back to his changeup, and both pitches are effective. His slider was also good today, especially later in the innings, but his changeup was good, his fastball was good.”

“He just gets on the mound and wants to attack every hitter, and when he does that, he’s able to get ahead and then start making pitches. He knows how to use all four quadrants and does it well.”

ABRAMS VS LHPs:

CJ Abrams went into last night’s game against the Rockies’ lefty starter Austin Gomber with a .286/.338/.449 line against left-handed pitchers this season, versus his .231/.315/.438 line against righties, though he’d hit 14 of 17 home runs off right-handers on the year. He struck out on an 0-2 curve up and in the first time up, chased an 0-2 curve out of the zone later in third inning.

Gomber tried to get a 1-1 fastball by Abrams inside in the seventh, however, and the 23-year-old hit it 394 ft. to right-center field in Nationals Park, connecting for his 18th home run this season, matching his career high (from 2023), and his fourth against a lefty.

“With him it’s about getting the ball up and in the zone,” manager Davey Martinez said after the 3-1 loss last night. “He can’t chase. That’s the big thing with him. He hits righties well. I know he’s better [against lefties], but he gets over-anxious against the righties. He’s got to take that same approach as he does with lefties, and try to really get the ball up and in the zone, and when he does that he’s good. Today he was more about just seeing the ball up, and when he did that he hit the ball hard and far.”

Abrams’ home run was one of only three hits off the Rockies’ starter, with fellow left-handed bats Luis García, Jr. (2 for 3 on the night) and José Tena (1 for 4) connecting for the others.

The right-handed bats Martinez put in the lineup went hitless on the night against Gomber and Alex Call connected for the only hit by a right-hander on the night, off of reliever Tyler Kinley in the eighth.

“We started chasing balls down,” Martinez said in assessing the offensive effort overall in the loss. “I thought our lefties did a really good job of finally getting the ball up a little bit, they hit the ball better, but our righties just couldn’t get the ball up and in the zone, so… we just kept chasing and our righties had a lot of non-competitive at-bats.”