Washington Nationals news & notes: Nats lose 4-1; improvement for Patrick Corbin; James Wood gets on…

The end of the Corbyn era is near:

Patrick Corbin gave up 13 hits and 11 runs (Of these, 10On July 30, he started against the Diamondbacks on the road in Arizona, facing 22 batters over three innings and throwing 67 pitches before being replaced in a 17–0 loss.

“It’s just a place. It’s just a place,” Nationals manager Davey Martinez told reporters of Corbin’s brutal loss.

“They swung pretty early in the count, but they were way out of position.”

“You have to make pitches. If you make pitches you can get outs and we threw a lot of balls up the middle.”

“It was a tough game tonight,” the Nationals left-hander said after the game. He has a 5.88 ERA, 4.43 FIP and a .304/.354/.498 batting average in 121 innings across 22 starts this season.

“Now we just have to get through it. I think I’m pitching well.”

“Today was the complete opposite.”

“He’s pitching really well,” the manager said. “Today was one of those days. You’ve got to give credit to those guys some days. They swung the bat really well and they were focused on him. He needs to forget about this, come back and not let this affect his pitching these days, because he’s pitched really well.”

In his 23rd start of the year, Corbin and the Nationals will be pitching in hot form with Tyler Fitzgerald (Ten of his 11 home runs this year have come in his last 16 games.) hit a low-zone sinker 416 feet to left for his 12th of the season, sending the Nationals’ starting pitcher to deep base early, but the home team fell to a 4-1 defeat.

In the third inning, Corbin doubled to lead off the inning and got two outs. He was down 2-0 against the next batter, Michael Conforto, and then walked, giving Matt Chapman an opportunity to score. Chapman caught a knee-high slider and the Giants third baseman launched a 409-foot, three-run homer to left for a 4-0 lead.

“His only mistake,” Martinez said after the game, “was walking Conforto, making it 0-2 and making the out. [Chapman] He hit a home run, but that was it.

“Other than that, he was good down the stretch, he attacked the strike zone, he kept the ball low, he limited the damage, so that one mistake is what cost us the game.”

Corbin pitched in the 6th inning, walked 1, struck out 6, allowed 7 hits, and gave up 4 earned runs. He struck out 11 swinging batters, threw 8 sliders, and threw 19 strikes (Slider is 9, Slider is 6, Cutter is 4).

“I thought he was good,” Nationals catcher Cavert Lewis told reporters after the loss. “He gave us six innings and gave us a chance to win the game, which was really good. He got some early outs, he got a lot of early contact.”

“First batter of the game, if that happens, the game’s still going to be long,” Corbin said. Quote from MASN’s Mark Zuckerman“Sometimes it takes a pitch or two to get a hold of the fastball. It’s unfortunate that he hit that one out of the park.”

That was a big improvement over the Diamondbacks’ home games.

“He was just throwing the ball low. He was throwing the ball low most of the time,” Martinez explained when asked about Corbin’s adjustment from starter to starter. “When he was throwing low, he was throwing the ball really well. He didn’t throw the changeup as much today. I think he felt like he didn’t need it.”

“But his slider was good, his fastball was good, but he needed to keep the ball down low. That was Conforto’s at-bat. Going from 0-2 to 4-2 really hurt him.”

Here are Wood’s times:

James Wood threw eight pitches in his first at-bat Sunday afternoon, catching a 3-2 changeup deep in right field for a single.

He got the first of his two hits in the final game of the series. Brewers The 21-year-old rookie extended his streak of reaching base in nine straight games at Nationals Park.

Wood got his second out on a fly to center field against right-handed starter Tobias Myers, and then in the sixth inning, with the bases loaded and sidewinding southpaw Hobie Milner on the mound, Wood hit an 0-1 sinker down the left line the other way and Jackson Ciorio made a foolhardy diving catch, but it fell flat as Wood raced through the bases and three runners scored to give the Nationals a 4-1 victory.

Rafael Suanez – USA TODAY Sports

Overall, Wood was 2-for-4 with 12 hits in 33 at-bats (.364 batting average), with 2 doubles, 2 triples, 8 RBI, 7 walks, 1 stolen base and 6 runs scored.

“That was a big one,” manager Davey Martinez said of Wood’s three-run triple.

“He’s very patient, very calm,” Martinez said of Wood’s approach at the plate early in his major league career. “He responds really well to the ball. He doesn’t try to do too much, but he takes a good swing and tries to drive the ball into the strike zone. And he did that again today. That was a big moment. And he did it. This kid’s going to be OK. He’s really OK. I love the way he’s approaching the baseball right now.”

Wood has appeared in 29 major league games and 123 at-bats this year, recording two hits, three triples, two home runs, 13 walks and 41 strikeouts, batting two with a .257 on-base percentage, .342 on-base percentage and .376 slugging percentage.

The fact that he is just as patient and calm at the plate at this point in his development is a big plus for the manager.

“I love it. I love it,” Martinez emphasized.

“He’s eager to learn. He’s in the moment and knows what he wants to do with each at-bat. You’re seeing his at-bats get better and better. He’s walking batters, he’s hitting his changeup, he’s hitting the ball in all directions. He’s doing well.”

And when he says Wood is willing to learn, what does that daily willingness to learn look like as he adjusts to the major league game?

“He wants to work hard and learn, he wants to learn pitchers,” Martinez explained.

“He works with his hitting coach every day and studies pitchers. He gets it. He gets it. I said, ‘Look, this is your first time, you’ve got to learn what the league is going to do to you,’ but my biggest thing with him is, ‘Hey, stay in the moment, stay in the moment, don’t get ahead of yourself, you’re going to be OK, and he’s done well.’

Wood went 1-for-3 with 1 hit and 1 walk in the 4-1 loss, extending his on-base streak to 10 games.

He is currently batting “…. .361 (13-for-36) with two doubles, two triples and nine RBI.”[s]In his last 10 games, he recorded “1 hit, 8 walks, 1 stolen base, and 6 runs.”