Washington Nationals news & notes: Nats drop series opener to Guardians, 7-1 + starter talk…

Notes and quotes from the Nationals’ 7-1 loss to the Guardians in Cleveland…

PITCHING, PITCHING, PITCHING … AND DEFENSE:

Washington’s pitching staff, starters and relievers combined, finished the four-game series in Atlanta with the 11th best ERA in the majors (3.83) and the fourth-best FIP (3.58).

Nationals’ starters’ 3.93 ERA was ranked 14th out of 30, with their 3.55 FIP ranked 6th.

The relief corps in D.C.’s 3.67 ERA as a group ranked 10th in the majors, while their 3.63 FIP was ranked 6th.

“You got guys with good stuff,” GM and President of Baseball Ops Mike Rizzo told 106.7 the FAN in D.C.’s Sports Junkies this week, crediting the messaging from Pitching Coach Jim Hickey, Assistant Pitching Coach Sean Doolittle, and Minor League Pitching Coordinator Sam Narron for the success in the organization. “But also guys that have learned secondary stuff and poise and they’re commanding the baseball – we put a big emphasis on that in Spring Training as you know, about throwing strikes. You’re starting to see the results of all that hard work from those guys.”

Nats’ manager Davey Martinez talked during the series with the Braves, in which his starters walked four batters in four games, about attacking the zone being a necessity for his staff.

“We have to attack the strike zone. That’s kind of what we need to do. We can’t give free passes,” he said.

“Our starting pitchers have been doing well with that, they really have. And it’s been a trickle effect with all these guys.

“They’re attacking the zone and putting hitters in swing mode, so it’s been good.”

Martinez reiterated that fact after veteran Trevor Williams put together another solid start in the series finale in Truist Park.

“They’ve been pitching really well,” he said. “We talked about this earlier. We’re attacking the zone, we’re not walking many guys, and when you do that, you put hitters in swing mode.

“As I’ve said before, that’s a good thing. We’re being very efficient as well, so it was a good night for Trevor and our whole pitching staff has been really good.”

Photo by Nick Cammett/Getty Images

Going into the first of three with Cleveland’s Guardians in Progressive Field this weekend, the Nationals noted the starters were on quite a run, with, “a 2.27 ERA (12 ER/47.2 IP) over the last eight starts,” with an MLB-leading, “… 56 strikeouts, an 8.00 strikeout-to-walk ratio, and its seven walks are tied for the fewest in MLB since May 22.”

Patrick Corbin, who took the mound against the Guardians with a 6.12 ERA and a 5.01 FIP in 11 starts and 60 ¹⁄₃ IP on the year, gave the Nationals another solid start, allowing a couple runs in six innings of work in which he gave up five hits and three walks, with both runs scoring in the third, after he’d given up a leadoff walk and a single in the first two at-bats.

Guardians’ outfielder Tyler Freeman hit a grounder towards the 5-6 hole which Nick Senzel deflected over towards short, where CJ Abrams dove for it, smacked his face, hard, on the ground, and took a second to recover as the first run of the game for either team scored, 1-0. José Ramirez’s RBI groundout scored the second run, 2-0.

Corbin held it there through six, and Eddie Rosario doubled to drive in a run for the visiting team in the seventh, connecting for just the third hit of the game off starter Tanner Bibee, and the first by someone other than Luis García, Jr. whose single in the fourth and leadoff hit in the seventh were the only two hits off Bibee to that point.

Jacob Barnes replaced Corbin in the seventh, and gave up a one-out walk, a single, and an IBB that loaded the bases for Josh Naylor, so the Nationals went to the pen for lefty Robert Garcia, who got a potential double play grounder the defense didn’t turn (though they got close), 3-1.

David Fry (who started the night with a .419/.594/.791 against lefties this season), hit the first pitch he saw from Garcia out to left-center for a three-run home run and 6-1 lead.

“We were one pitch away from getting out of the inning,” Martinez said after a 7-1 loss in the series opener with the Guardians. “We don’t turn a double play, [Garcia’s] got to face [Fry].

“Overall, Garcia, the guy that we wanted to get, was Naylor in that situation, he put the ball on the ground.”

His club finished the night with four hits total, three of them by García, Jr., and they were 0 for 4 with runners in scoring position and five left on base overall in the loss.

“Look, [Bibee] kept the ball up in the zone,” Martinez explained.

“He has a good changeup, which we knew. Just one of those days. We’ve been playing well, so let’s come back tomorrow and go 1-0 tomorrow.”

“We got three hits today, and the other thing too, we could have turned two double plays, we couldn’t do that, and six walks. When you walk that many guys, put the much traffic on there, those guys put the ball in play, but Patrick threw the ball really, really well. He really did. He kept us in the ballgame.”

ALSO THIS:

AND THIS:

LINK: Modern Luxury DC – The Cosmic Kid – CJ Abrams article…