Gore struck out eight in seven innings:
MacKenzie Gore gave up a home run to the leadoff batter on his second pitch of last night’s game, a 97.1 mph fastball from JP Crawford that he hit 399 feet to center field to open the series in the nation’s capital. It was the only run Gore gave up and one of just four hits he allowed. Gore gave up seven hits in his start and ended up throwing 98 pitches over seven innings, striking out eight and walking one.
The Nationals’ offense provided ample support for their starting pitchers, with Luis Garcia Jr. hitting a three-run homer in the fourth inning, Keivert Lewis hitting a two-run homer in the sixth inning, and finally Eddie Rosario hitting a homer in the eighth inning for the first of three runs against Seattle in Washington, DC.
Gore allowed a two-out single in the second inning, a two-out walk in the third, a leadoff single in the sixth, and one hit in the seventh, but he put all four runners on base after the home run, and on the night he struck out 17 batters swinging and called 18 strikeouts, including eight strikeouts swinging and called 10 strikeouts with his four-seam fastball, which he threw 55% of the time with an average speed of 96.9 mph and also mixed in a curveball.26%; 6 whiffs, 5 strikeouts), changeup (10%, 2/2),slider(9%; 1/1).
The Nationals left-hander spoke about moving on to the next pitcher immediately after the leadoff hitter’s home run following the latest change in the starting rotation.
“I don’t want to start the game with a home run, but [focus on] “Next man up,” Gore told reporters after earning his third win (3-4, 3.04 ERA, 3.16 FIP, 2.87 HRs/nine, 10.46 BPs/nine, 0.84 homers/nine innings). 1⁄3 IP), Quote from MLB.com reporter Jessica Camerato.
“What happened happened,” he said.
“after that [home run]”He controlled the game really well,” catcher Cavert Lewis said after coaching the left-hander to take the mound. “He executed the game.”
“You think that [a long outing]”We just hope things don’t blow up,” Davey Martinez said in his post-match press conference.
“But when he went through the fourth inning and I saw the pitch count and what he was doing, I thought he was going to be able to go long in this game, which is great. And he did. Going seven innings is really good, especially for a reliever. There are a lot of games coming up, so we’re going to need our starters to go a little longer in games.”
“He’s been attacking the strike zone,” Martinez said when asked what’s going well for the left-handed starter.
“He got the outs early. He pitched really well. His fastball was explosive. He threw curveballs when he needed to, but he really wanted to get first base.”
Gore’s curveball was particularly effective late in games, the coach said.
“He started to get a little better late in the game. Sometimes when he gets a little tired, he gets more focused and he can throw the ball a little better, but his fastball tends to go up and his curveball goes down a little bit. The ball he threw at the end was phenomenal.”
The final pitch was a 3-2 curveball to Jorge Polanco, and the Mariners infielder swung for the Nationals starter’s eighth strikeout of the day.
“It was pretty cool to throw a curveball like that after throwing two fastballs.”
