Quick Summary – Seesaw Battle Ends Upside Down K:
New York MetsRelief pitcher Jake Diekman gave up a two-run homer in the ninth inning of Sunday’s series finale. Arizona Diamondbacks In the end, it was at Citi Field in New York, “…” Despite leading after eight innings, it was the worst loss in the major leagues for the team.” and came close to suffering a seventh loss in a see-saw game against the Washington Nationals in the nation’s capital last night.
Diekman came to the mound to save the visitors after Adam Ottavino walked leadoff hitter Luis Garcia Jr., hit Keibert Ruiz with a pitch, and gave up consecutive one-out RBI singles to Jesse Winker and Ildemaro Vargas to cut the lead from 8-4 to 8-6. Diekman then stole the ball and allowed a sacrifice fly to Joey Meneses with two outs to make it 8-7. Nationals rookie catcher Drew Milas then struck out Ottavino on an 0-2 fastball low in the zone for the third out.
Winker singled to bring in a run in the top of the second for the Nationals. The Mets led 1-0 at the top of the inning, then Nick Senzel grounded out a pitch by Vargas to make it 3-1 in favor of the visitors, and Joey Gallo hit a two-run homer to give the home team a 4-3 lead after the fourth inning.
The lead didn’t last long, as Harrison Bader’s sacrifice fly tied the game in the fifth inning, but then hits by Jose Iglesias (RBI single) and Luis Torrens (two-run double) put the Mets up 7-4.
Winker walked in the bottom of the fifth to put New York ahead by one run, then Starling Marte hit a one-run single in the top of the sixth to give New York an 8-5 lead, setting up some drama for the bottom half of the ninth.
“We had some chances but just fell a little short,” manager Davey Martinez said after the loss.
“But the lads fought hard, I thought we struck the ball really well, and we did, and we had a couple of lineouts.
“But overall I thought our hitting was good today.”
“We almost won that game with one hit,” he added in the post-match press conference.
Goa Nights:
MacKenzie Gore struck out 10 of the 22 batters he faced last week at Truist Park in Atlanta, throwing 97 pitches, 63 pitches, 13 whiffs and 11 strikeouts without issuing a walk over five innings.
“I thought we were aggressive with them,” Gore said after the game. Quote from MASN’s Bobby Blanco.
“I thought my off-speed was good, so I thought I had a good game plan and executed it well and was able to get some strikeouts.”
His 10 strikeouts were one shy of the season-high for a left-hander this year (11 on April 13).
“It’s always good to strike out a lot of batters and not walk them,” the starting pitcher said. “10 strikeouts is always great.”
Manager Davey Martinez spoke about Gore and catcher Keybert Lewis after the game began.Jim Hickey, pitching coach) are working increasingly well together.
“We always [how] “MacKenzie’s work is so amazing,” Martinez explained.
“They’re utilizing his fastball, but they’re also mixing in a curveball when necessary, and it’s been effective and they’re becoming more efficient.”
“That’s what they love about it, Hickey talks to them about it every day.
“They understand what can be done in certain situations, and their customers embrace it and do well.”
Gore allowed seven hits, four walks and six runs in four innings. 1⁄3 On Monday night, he pitched one inning, allowing one home run against 24 batters, striking out only two, totaling eight whiffs and nine strikeouts, fouling off 24 of his 92 pitches, and allowing a walk and a single with one out in the fifth inning to finish the day.With a wild pitch), Dylan Floro replaced him and a sacrifice fly led to a walk that scored a run.
“To me, he just didn’t look like he was in good form,” Martinez said of Gore’s performance.
“The slider looked short. There were a lot of pitches. The opponent had a lot of fouls, so I was able to get 4 1⁄3 “To pitch one inning with 92 pitches is too much, so we had to take him out of there.”
The six earned runs allowed was a season high for Gore, but how has he avoided blowouts so far this year?
“The ability to get back and pitch, really pitch, get ahead and not fall behind,” Martinez said.
“Today he was late when things happened. Like I said, they fouled a lot of balls early.”
“It was a frustrating game,” Gore said after the game. “I just wasn’t very good. That’s all there is to it. It just wasn’t a good game.”
“It just wasn’t executed,” he added.
“It just wasn’t good. I really didn’t pitch well the whole game. I didn’t make the pitches when I needed to and I couldn’t get out of the jam.”
“It’s frustrating, but the sun will come up tomorrow and in five days it will be sunny again. But this time it’s pretty frustrating.”
Riley Adams to Triple-A:
Before the series finale in Cleveland, the Nationals demoted catcher Riley Adams to Triple-A Rochester and used Drew Milas as the backup for primary catcher Keivert Lewis.
“Milas is playing really well,” manager Davey Martinez told reporters, “but we want to move Riley Adams around a little bit more. We want to give him at-bats and get him moving again. He’s thrown too many fastballs in the past, so we want to get him at-bats every day and get him moving. The other thing is, we want him to play first base a little bit so he can do different things while he’s here.”
Adams, 27, started 11 games from April 9-24 and batted .270/.333/.460. Lewis was on the disabled list during that time, but since Lewis’ return, the Nationals’ second-string catcher is batting .161/.257/.194 in 11 starts.
“It’s a timing issue,” Martinez said in diagnosing Adams’ struggles at the plate.
“He just needs to get ready early, which is hard when you’re not playing every day. So getting him up to bat every day and refocusing will definitely help him. Our plan is to get him out there, play him every day, get as many at-bats as possible and see if we can get him refocused.”
Jeff Burke – USA TODAY Sports
The 26-year-old Milas joined the Nationals for the third time this season and appeared in 30 games with the Triple-A Red Wings, batting .308/.353/.505 with six doubles, five home runs, 22 RBIs, eight walks, five stolen bases and 11 runs scored.
“Our plan is, he’s doing really well,” the Nationals captain said. “My plan is to use him as catcher a couple of times a week, either with Keibert Lewis as the designated hitter on days when he’s available, or with Milas as the designated hitter and give him some at-bats as well. We’ll see how he does. We’ll have him pitch tomorrow or the day after, get him used to it, and we’ll see how he responds.”
Milas was 0-for-4 in the series opener against the Mets after walking and striking out, but with a runner on third and a possible go-ahead runner on first, he struck out on an 0-2 fastball low in the zone for the final out of the game.
“I think he got fooled,” Martinez said of the final pitch of the game. “You have to really look at it to know, but he took the first pitch, took a really good swing, got after the ball and I think he got stuck on the last pitch.”
Josiah Gray Update:
Josiah Gray has been on the disabled list since April 4 with a right elbow/forearm flexor injury, but if his next bullpen outing goes well, the Nationals could send the 26-year-old right-hander out for a rehab outing in the near future.
“Josiah is scheduled to pitch in a live game tomorrow, so we’ll see how he does,” Martinez said when asked about the situation before last night’s game.
“If all goes well, then yes,” the Nationals captain added, “we’d love to send him out on a rehab assignment.”
What are your plans for Live BP?
“I’m going to have him get three innings, three outs, and keep it to about 50 pitches.”
