The build begins:
Mackenzie Gore gave up a total of eight hits and three runs (They all won) 5 1⁄3 He took the mound on Wednesday afternoon in Arizona and didn’t strike out many batters (seven) or strike out (one), but he did walk just one batter in 98 pitches and was overall an improvement over his previous few outings.In four starts, he had a 10.80 ERA and a 5.83 FIP, posting a .318/.436/.508 ERA in 15 innings.).
“It was really good,” manager Davey Martinez said of Gore’s 22nd start of the season.
“He’s been efficient throughout. I think he threw about 83 pitches through the sixth inning, but today he was better. He was efficient. He was attacking the strike zone. I thought he was pitching really well.”
Gore threw 63 of his 98 pitches for strikes, 14 of which were called as strikes, including 10 fastballs and four curveballs.
“We didn’t get many strikeouts or strikeouts,” Gore told reporters. Quote from MASN’s Mark Zuckermanbut also noted, “…there weren’t a lot of two-strike counts. That was kind of the game plan they had throughout the whole series. I think it was a little bit of a mix of my pitching not being that good and them being aggressive.”
Gore’s velocity was generally low across the board across all of his pitches. Was that part of the plan? Did he hold it back a bit in hopes of improving his control? Was that intentional?
“No, I guess it just happened,” the Nationals captain explained.
“I think we worked on a few things with him. He wanted to throw the ball above home plate, and he did a good job of that. He threw most of his balls low, threw them high when he needed to, and his slider was a little bit better. So I thought he did a good job today.”
All told, it was a mostly positive end to a tough month for the 25-year-old left-hander, who improved from a 3.47 ERA, 3.00 FIP, and .268 ERA/.333/.386 Slugging percentage on July 1 to a 4.54 ERA, 3.40 FIP, and .279/.352/.410 Slugging percentage this year.
“Can we take it further?” Martinez said of Wednesday’s game.
“So we’ll have him back in five or six days and hopefully he can finish the season strong. I’m really proud of him because the last month has been tough with a lot of stuff. We played against a good hitting team today and the guys swung the bat really well and pitched well.”
Gore said it’s been a tough time for the entire team with the Nationals going through trade rumors, a trade that ultimately shook up their major league roster and Tuesday’s 17-0 loss to the Diamondbacks.
“It’s been a frustrating week for us with a lot going on,” Gore said.
“We need to use this day off to think about how we reset for tomorrow and what we want to do as a team in the next two months.”
Trade Deadline Remaining:
Davey Martinez called Kyle Finnegan into his office shortly after the 6pm ET trade deadline last Tuesday.
Finnegan is rumored to be very popular (The past few seasons, really.) has been a hot topic this year, and when players like Hunter Harvey and Lane Thomas find themselves in similar situations (Team Management/ContractualAfter ) was traded, there was further speculation that Finnegan could be next.
No transactions were reported after the deadline passed, but still…
“You know there’s always a little bit that comes in after the clock strikes zero,” the Nationals closer said, “… So he called me into his office, and it was kind of funny going in there, and he had this big smile on his face and he said, ‘You’re the Nationals,’ and we laughed and we hugged each other and got excited about the future.”
“It was weird,” Martinez joked. “He had this look on his face like he didn’t believe me. I told him, [6:02 ET]I don’t have a favorite because I really love them all.
“But he’s the only guy I expect to pitch at the back of the bullpen. I’m glad he’s still here and will get a chance to save games for us.”
General manager and president of baseball operations Mike Rizzo spoke to reporters on Tuesday night about why a deal with Finnegan ultimately didn’t come to fruition.
“It had to be market value,” he explained.
“That’s what we were looking for. This guy pitches at the back end of the ballgame. He’s proven he can play the closer role. We weren’t asking for anything huge, but we were looking for market value as a closer with another year under contract. That was a big factor. We weren’t holding him back or being forced to move him because of an expiring contract or financial ramifications. We like the guy, we think he’s going to help us this year and next, he’s a great person, he’s a good relief pitcher, he’s going to pitch whenever Davey hands him the ball and is very selfless in that regard. He’s our bulldog, our go-to guy in the bottom of the ninth. None of the deals that we had in mind met the market’s eye, so we talked it through to the end to see if some deals would change, but at the end of the day, we didn’t come to a deal that we were happy with and we didn’t have to move any players and I think it was really good to have him at the back of the bullpen.”
Finnegan was also happy to stay with the Nationals.
“I’m happy to be part of the Nationals team. I can forget about this and focus on winning games. I can stay calm no matter what happens. But I’m happy to be here.”
That the Nationals set a high bar for his return and then persevered when it wasn’t met meant a lot to the relief pitcher, as did the interest from other teams.
“It’s great to have the trust of the GM and the manager,” he said.
“In my career, [Rizzo] And Davey. They gave me incredible opportunities and really helped me grow as a player. So it’s nice to feel valued and needed. I want to continue to play well and finish the season strong and excited for next year.”