Washington Nationals news & notes: Patrick Corbin solid; Nats homer way to win…

Notes and quotes on the Nationals’ win over the Marlins on Saturday afternoon in the nation’s capital…

STRONG CORBIN:

A strong stretch for Patrick Corbin came to an abrupt end in PNC Park last Sunday, with the left-handed starter giving up five hits and four runs out of the gate in the first, and a total of 10 hits and seven earned runs overall in the six-inning turn in the Nats’ rotation.

“Two-seamer wasn’t there today,” Davey Martinez said when the Nationals’ manager spoke with reporters after the 7-3 loss to the Pirates. “He tried to throw a lot more cutters. Some were good, some were not good.

“Just he didn’t have the effect on that cutter as he normally has, left a lot of balls out over the plate.”

“They came out hot there,” Corbin said after the Bucs’ hitters jumped all over him in the first, “.. and then just the first homer, cutter just middle of the plate.

Photo by Greg Fiume/Getty Images

“Not wanting it there, just ended there, and then same with a couple of the other hits, just kind of not burying the slider as well as I have been doing.

“Just a little too much middle of the plate with everything, I thought we did a good job mixing it up, just the location was a little off.”

Off as he was, after putting up a 2.05 ERA, a 2.81, and a .244/.319/.342 line against in the aforementioned solid stretch over his previous four starts, Corbin gave the Nationals the length they needed and made it through six in spite of his struggles.

“No one ever wants a game to start like that. It’s tough,” Corbin told reporters, as quoted by MASN’s Mark Zuckerman:

“But I’m still going to go out there. It was good to get through six innings. I wish a couple things would’ve gone differently. But to have a doubleheader yesterday and come back the way we did, use a lot of those (relievers). Most of them were probably down today. It stinks that we weren’t able to win, or that I wasn’t able to put up more zeroes.”

Corbin put up zeroes in five of six innings of work in Nationals Park on Saturday afternoon, holding Miami’s Marlins to one run on three hits and a walk in a 94-pitch, 59-strike start for the home team in what ended up a 4-1 win.

After giving up a leadoff double by Jonah Bride in the second, a groundout and RBI single got the visitor’s on the board, up 1-0, but Joey Gallo homered in the home-half, 1-1.

Corbin retired 14 of 16 batters between the end of the second and the sixth, working around a two-out walk in the top of the fourth and a one-out ROE in the fifth, and finished the game with six Ks, 11 swinging strikes, and 16 called strikes in a strong outing.

“He attacked the zone,” Martinez told reporters after the win.

“He was really good. His cutter was good today. His fastball was good. He threw his slider when he needed to. But the cutter was really effective today.”

Photo by Greg Fiume/Getty Images

Asked about the uptick in swings and misses for the southpaw, Martinez said the cutter was an effective weapon for Corbin.

“I think the cutter, getting the cutter in on the righties, has been a weapon for him, and then for me it’s more about keeping the ball down as well,” he explained. “He’s throwing the ball down, he’s got good movement on his fastball when he keeps it down, so he’s working both sides of the plate, which has really helped him a lot.”

Corbin, the Nationals mentioned in their post game notes, “… has now allowed two or fewer earned runs in five of his last six starts [and] during that stretch, he owns a (4-1) record with a 3.44 ERA (13 ER/ 34.0 IP).”

The fact that he’s been able to put together a solid stretch as his 6-year/$140M deal in D.C. comes to an end is a positive way to wrap things up, but Corbin acknowledged it has been tough at times.

“At times, it’s been frustrating,” he said, as quoted on MASN.

“You try to go out there and do your best, and things don’t go your way. I think I’ve just located a lot better, have gotten some more strikeouts, which helps.”

NOTES:

Joey Gallo’s 0 for 21 mini-slump ended with a game-tying homer to left field, No. 7 on a 2-0 pitch from Marlins’ starter Valente Bellozo, knotting things up before his teammates rallied from an early 1-0 deficit and beat the Fish again.

Keibert Ruiz put the Nationals ahead with an RBI single in the fourth, and in his last 10, the catcher, “… is hitting .378 (14-for-37) with seven doubles, a homer, five RBI[s], three walks, two stolen bases, and five runs scored.”

Gallo, José Tena, and Juan Yepez all homered for the Nationals in the win.

“Awesome,” Davey Martinez said of the power on display.

“As we always talk about, Tena, the kid can hit. But Gallo, I’m glad he hit a ball a long ways, and Yepez, you know, he hasn’t played a whole lot, but he gives you good at-bats when he does play.”

The Nats and Fish wrap up their season series in this afternoon’s finale in Nationals Park, with the Nationals now 10-2 against their NL East rivals this year. MacKenzie Gore is their starter today…