Front Page – Grays May:
Josiah Gray gave up 7 hits and 5 runs (3 home runs) 5 innings in the first start of the season.
Gray, 25, of Chase Field, Arizona, allowed five total runs in his next five starts and hit just one homer in 28 games before the trip in Phoenix last night. 2⁄3 IP in that stretch, and posted against an impressive 1.57 ERA, 3.29 FIP, and .219/.303/.305 line.
“Since spring training, he’s been unbelievable,” Nationals manager Davey Martinez told reporters after Gray threw a strong six against the Pirates. “His routine, the way he runs his business, the way he develops his game plan, the way he works together. [Pitching Coach Jim] Hickey, all the bullpens are getting a lot better and that’s a testament to what he wants to do. And now he’s doing incredibly well. He’s giving us a chance to win, but he’s there, pitching for the team. This is great.
While pleased with his early return, Gray said it was just one month into a long season.
“I am happy that April was a successful month,” Gray said. Words by Mark Zuckerman of MASN After the start with the Bucks.
“But I don’t want to call it a season just because April was good. Consistency is key in anything, especially pitching,” Gray added.
“I have shown myself that I can be consistent for a month.
“I hope we can build on what we’ve done in April,” Martinez said before last night’s game.
“The biggest thing we know is hitting the strike zone, getting ahead of hitters early, and finishing early. He really believes he can do it.So the biggest thing right now is to keep hitting the strike zone.When he does that, he’s really effective.”
How was his first start to May? Greats 2 2⁄3 The Nationals got off to a 1-0 start with a homer by Luis Garcia, but D-backs outfielder Corbyn Carroll (Who signed an eight-year, $111 million contract extension this winter?), took a 1–0 fastball from the middle of the plate, went out to left center, and hit a 403-foot opposite fielder home run to tie the game at 1–1.
The blast ended a streak of 19 consecutive innings without allowing Gray to hit a home run.
In the top of the fourth, with the D-backs on second and third, Dominic Fletcher singled to start the inning and moved to third on a throwing error by Gray on Gabriel Moreno’s line drive to the mound. , Gray took second when he dropped the ball, saw second first, then threw wide from first base. Dom Smith stretched and put on his gloves but failed to catch. Fletcher kept a clean sheet on a midfield chopper after Gerardo Perdomo threw a walk. Queter Marte’s sack fly gave his team his two-run lead at home, and Gray got out of the inning in his 27-pitch frame for a total of 79 pitches. After hitting a one-out double in the bottom of the fifth, he was up to 92…
Josiah Gray quotes: 5.0 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 6 Ks, 1 HR, 92 P, 60 S, 3/3 GO/FO.
After the 3-1 loss, Martinez said, “He was good. “He hiccuped once in the fourth, threw a lot of pitches, came back in the fifth and calmed down, making three for us. I got an out, but by then he had 92 pitches, so I thought that was enough for him today…four times, hitting him back, setting the tone for a big inning.
Lewis, Lewis:
Luis Garcia went up 2-0, spitting a fastball and curving out of the zone away from D-backs starter Meryl Kelly. 0 Early in the series opener at Chase Field.
BACK PAGE – B-pen Step Up Night:
Davey Martinez used both Hunter Harvey and Kyle Finnegan back-to-back in the second and third games of the Nats four-game series. cubs Last week at Nationals Park, he turned to right-handers again in the final game of the series against Chicago before continuing to send his back-end arm out there at a club the club has been fighting a lot of close to recently. talked about his thoughts about After dropping the opener, he took his 3 in the straight from the Cubbies.
After being scoreless in his first two appearances in the series, HarveyAchieved 5 consecutive wins without conceding a goalwho struggled against the Cubs, giving up a two-run double that forced two runners down and a sack fly that tied the game 3–3.
Finnegan gave up a walk and doubled in the first two at-bats in the top of the ninth inning. He then scored back-to-back Ks and a fly to right to get out of the jam and Alex he equalized before Cole’s walk. – An off-home run was won in the home half of the inning.
“I was hoping to keep one of them out,” Martinez said after the win. [starter] Patrick [Corbin] I was throwing the ball well, it wasn’t going well, but they came to me and said, ‘Hey, here’s your chance to win the game. And that’s exactly what they want in the back end of the bullpen. And Finnegan? I can’t say enough about what he did. It was impressive. He’s the only guy in the bullpen and I always say the more I use him the better I feel.
“He sits for a while and then comes out and isn’t very sharp.
“He doesn’t give in, he doesn’t quit, he understands his role and he’s just trying to get out.
“For me, I know Alex Cole hit a big home run, but that was the moment. [Finnegan] Come in and do what he did and score those big strikeouts for us. It was big. “
As I said before, Martinez recently told reporters that he did so three games in a row, but he knows he can’t keep relying on the same reliever night after night.
“Tomorrow is a perfect example. I don’t think I would put those two guys in there,” he explained. [Erasmo Ramírez], [Andrés Machado], [Carl Edwards, Jr.], CJ had a big moment before.masonry [Thompson] It’s been a big moment in his young career. Those people need to step up.
“[Thaddeus] Ward, [Hobie] Harris. Those people need to step up.
“As I said before, we want these players in June, July and August, so other players have to come out on the pitch. But they must be ready.
“You have to be very careful with how the back end of the bullpen is being used,” Martinez repeated before last night’s game. “Like I said before, some of the other players have to pitch, they have to get out there. But let’s see how they are doing. Some of them are He has already come to me and said, “Look, it’s not that bad.” And I said, “Okay, let’s go over there and play catch and talk before the game.”
With the team trailing 3-1 after Josiah Gray finished, Martinez faced the series opener loss alongside Ramirez (IP 2.0) and Harris (IP 1.0). Would it be an exaggeration to say that Harvey and Finnegan weren’t available?
“They weren’t pitching tonight,” Martinez said.
Also this:
“We went 2-for-3 and played nine innings on the field.
Kieboom, 25, has struggled with limited exposure in the majors so far. He’s off to a good start this spring, slowly returning to work and embarking on a rehab mission.
“They said he did well,” Martinez added. “I never saw a video to see if he had the ball. The fact that he did just means he felt good, we didn’t want him to get hurt and he finished the game without a problem.
