Foul off:
When 25-year-old starting pitcher Mackenzie Gore is at his best, as he was during his last outing in Oakland with 11 strikeouts in five innings, he’s truly special.
“It’s amazing,” Davey Martinez said after the southpaws dominated the Athletics, giving the home team a 3-1 victory at the Oakland Coliseum.
“He goes out there and attacks the strike zone, you know?” Martinez said.
“He goes out and competes. Hopefully this will allow us to see that consistency.”
Gore threw a lot of fastballs against the Athletics, throwing four-seamers on 52 of 90 pitches (58%), recording 28 swings and 12 whiffs on the field, averaging 97.1 mph and hitting a top speed of 97.8.
While on the mound, he held A’s batters to just four hits and one walk, throwing just five fastballs and committing 11 fouls.
He finished the game with five straight strikeouts on 29 pitches.
“I didn’t know until now. But I knew I was missing a bat,” Gore said after a start that featured back-to-back Ks.
“I knew the position was working, but [catcher] riley [Adams] Today was really good, we had a good game plan and we executed well enough to get into a rhythm. ”
“I know he struck out a lot of guys,” his manager said of the impressive K total in this game.
“We’ve been having serious conversations with him about pitching efficiency being going to be the next key for him as he tries to get six innings at this 90-pitch mark.”
Gore threw 92 pitches in four innings against the University of Houston. astros In last night’s series opener in the nation’s capital, opposing batters fouled out 26 of 92 pitches, including 17 of Gore’s fastballs, giving the Nats’ left-handed pitcher a 59% rate for the game. So I threw it.
Gore allowed seven hits, one walk and three runs that night, with just eight missed strikes, five on fastballs, 14 called strikes and 10 on heaters, rising to 96.3 and rising to 97.9. , He increased his pitch count with three consecutive doubles and a second RBI, and the visiting team took an early 3-0 lead, but ultimately lost 5-3.
“I thought Mackenzie threw a good ball,” Martinez said after the game. “Three runs allowed. Some guys bled. That’s part of baseball, but I thought he threw the ball well.”
Gore summed up the outing as “frustrating.” “I need to be a little better. But it was one of those things that wasn’t bad…I just wasn’t good enough. But it wasn’t terrible, I just need to be a little better.”
Gore threw 37 of his 92 pitches to long second.
“They just took hits,” he said of what went wrong. “They just hit a few balls a little harder and they hit a few balls where we hit the grass. There were a lot of foul balls tonight. It’s funny because they gave a lot of walks to a lot of guys. It’s not like I was throwing a lot of balls, but I was still throwing a lot of pitches, so I just went back and looked and understood why there were a lot of foul balls and just tried to be able to put players out there in the quickest way possible. please.”
Mackenzie Gore and Riley Adams after losing 5-3 tonight.
The left-handed catcher spoke to the media about tonight’s loss to the Houston Astros. pic.twitter.com/ZbOV5hx4Nl
— MASN Nationals (@masnNationals) April 20, 2024
Still, his production was in play and there were positives to take from this game.
“I felt good. I just, I didn’t — even if it was an execution, I mean, they’re good too, so it was one of those nights where I was just like — I I think that was it [a José] It was like 10 pitches in Altuve’s at-bat in the fourth inning, and it was like 0-for-2 the whole time, so it was like that, they were fouling a lot of pitches, and I didn’t turn guys away. ”
Party like 2019:
In case you didn’t know for some reason, this weekend in Washington, the Nationals will celebrate their fifth anniversary in the league in 2019. world series Victory brought many players back to the festival. Davey Martinez, then in his second year and now in his seventh year on the bench in the Capitals, told reporters before Friday’s series opener that he still thinks about that club in 2019 every day. he said.
“It’s a great feeling because every time I look at my ring or my trophy, it always feels like it was yesterday,” Martinez said. We are thrilled to have so many friendly people at Nationals Park this weekend to relive some of our memories. 19-31 excitement for the first World Series by a D.C.-based team since 1924.
While any team that wins the World Series is special, Martinez said what really sets the ’19 Nationals apart from other clubs he’s been involved with is the sense of family they’ve built on their way to a championship.
“Teams build an identity together, right?” he explained in Friday’s pregame press conference.
“And this team in particular was incredible, it really was. I can’t – they were family. They did things that I thought were “amazing.” There were some instances where they kept at it and had a great time together, but they knew why they were there and that it was to win. In case anyone forgot, we started at 19-31. And I’m not going to lie, I’m sorry to say this, but they really pulled it off, and it was fun to watch this group.
“Everyone was there to pick everyone up. It was a great group because even if one player was having a bad day, the next player would step up and do the job.”
There’s a lot of luck involved in ultimately winning it all, the reporter suggested, and the ’19 club had its share, he said, but what really made them unique? I wonder?
The Nats host Houston this weekend to celebrate the five-year anniversary of their 2019 World Series victory over the Astros.
Seven retired players are scheduled to make special appearances this weekend, including Brian Dozier, Adam Eaton and Javy Guerra. pic.twitter.com/b3dsjMmOkz
— MASN Nationals (@masnNationals) April 19, 2024
“You say ‘lucky,’ but I think to myself, you don’t know how lucky we actually were,” said the now 59-year-old captain. 25 guys competing really hard every day at the highest level to do what they’re supposed to do. We’ve been beaten up before and they didn’t seem fazed at all, right? They kept playing and kept playing. ”
If there’s one thing the current club can carry over from its predecessor, Martinez said, it’s the passion with which they played in 2019.
“They played with so much passion. They really did. Every day. They were on a mission, and…it’s unbelievable.”