Front Page – Coors Grey:
Josiah Gray finished Grapefruit League action with a 0.55 ERA in 5 starts and 16. 1⁄3 In an impressive spring as a 25-year-old starting pitcher, he walked 2, struck out 14, and held opposing hitters to a .210 AVG.
After completing his first full season in the major leagues in 2022, Gray finished the major league season with a 5.02 ERA, 5.86 FIP, NL-leading 66 walks (4.00 BB/9) and 154 Ks (9.32 K/9). Leading. He allowed 38 HR, and on the .239/.324/.489 line he posted 28 starts and 148 2⁄3 IPs, and was able to get through the spring without giving up a home run, but 2023 will see him finish the season. he pitched four pitches. d gave up his 2 and his two batters faced first took him deep and started his second game of the opening series.
The Nationals’ 25-year-old starter gave up three home runs in the second half of the outing, giving up a total of seven hits and five earned runs overall in a 7–1 loss to his NL East rivals in the Knotts. Atlanta.
How did Gray react to this season’s tough games?
“He was good. He was great. He was fine,” said director Davey Martinez.
“He spoke [catcher] key bart [Ruiz]. [Pitching coach Jim Hickey] Went down and talked to him a little bit, calmed down a bit and like I said, he started making better pitches. He was a little behind, but that’s good because he came out of some difficult situations.”
“It’s just a matter of bad locations early in the game,” Gray said. Words by Mark Zuckerman of MASN, when asked about his struggles. “I have to get better there.”
Start gray number two? His manager spoke before the series opener at Coors Field in Colorado about what he hopes to see from the right-hander this time around.
“Attack the strike zone,” Martinez said. “Be more efficient. Get ahead of the hitters. But like I said, his stuff is electric. When he’s ahead, he’s really good. We have to keep the ball here.” not.
Gray went through four scoreless games on 67 pitches, but in the first at-bat of the Rockies’ fifth, Layne Thomas lost a liner to right in the sun, giving Ezekiel Tovar a leadoff double. Either team scored an RBI single and a 1–0 lead on a soft liner to left field.
Gray pitched up to 86 pitches in five pitches and had 18 swing strikes, 11 of which were on the slider. He evaded a leadoff and a one-out single, stranding both runners on his 6th on 16 balls. With 102 total pitches, it’s still 1-0 Rockies.
Josiah Gray quotes: 6.0 IP, 8 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 Ks, 102 P, 64 S, 6/5 GO/FO.
He finished the day with 19 swing strikes, 11 sliders and 12 call strikes (3 for sliders, 5 for 4 seams, 4 for curves) whole.
One run scored by the Rockies at Gray was enough as the home side secured a 1–0 victory in their home opener at Coors Field.
Gray threw a 42% slider in his second start and was 30% in the first game of the season, but he kept it because it was so much better than against the Braves. What’s the difference?
“It’s just a lot better position,” Gray told reporters after the game. “Don’t try to do well. Once you get to the spot, at least just want to go to the area and you’ll do well.”
“So just trust it,” he added.
“He was great,” Martinez said at the post-match press conference.
“He was hitting the strike zone.
“So he was unbalanced as a hitter. I think he used his fastball well today.”
He went from 16% to 25% throwing a fastball while on the go, and got 3 swing strikes and 5 call strikes on the pitch.
“Most of the time he threw down the slider, which is what you want to do here,” Martinez added. “Please do not leave.”
“But when he needed a fastball, he threw some good fastballs, so he had a great day today.”
Back page – No offense, but…:
Davey Martinez’s franchise started a four-game series at Coors Field and started the season with the second-lowest scoring in the NL (17 in six games), lowest home run total (2), and a .233 AVG as a team. 11th out of 15 National League teams. Their OBP (.312) is mid-pack (8th), SLG (.306) is 15th, wRC+(71) puts him 13th, -0.4 fWAR puts him 14th out of 15 bottom. Starting 2023 Nationals offense.
“We’re going to get better,” Martinez told reporters after completing a 1-5 homestand to start the 2023 campaign. I don’t take any responsibility because of course I want to win every day, believe me, but I don’t take any responsibility.It’s not the first week of the season But if you want to compete here you have to get better, we played together as a team and we had to get better.
“If you play good team baseball, it will happen. We’re going on tour now, we’re on the plane, we’re going to play our home opener against Colorado, and we’re going to win tomorrow.”
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Photo by Justin Edmonds/Getty Images
Entering the seventh game of the season at hitter-friendly Coors Field, Martinez told reporters about the possibility that the mile-high air at home of the Rockies could help steer things in an offensive direction. bottom.
“We’re definitely going to come to Colorado to help a little bit,” he said. “We’re still in Colorado, even though the season is just getting started. Our players are starting to understand swinging on strikes and I think the hitting will come but right now it’s just about letting them relax a little bit and not overdo it with the guys on base. ”
Struggling with on-basemen wasn’t an issue in the first of his four games with the Rockies.
Kyle Freeland, a lefty, held the Knotts hitter to four total hits. 2⁄3 Strong, two-step, hit a 5 to keep the visitors out of the runners in scoring position during the game.
CJ Abrams and Jaymer Candelario picked off Rockies right-hander Justin Lawrence in the top of the eighth, with Abrams leading the inning and Candelario with one out, but both were left behind as the home team took a 1-0 lead to 9. proceeded to times. , Pierce Johnson scored his two Ks in his 1-2-3 frame to end the game.
Martinez said after his sixth defeat in the first seven games of the season: “I think they’re putting a little too much pressure on them, they’re doing too much. Relax a little bit, have a good, solid contact and what We’ll have to see if that happens,” he said. .
“We had to keep swinging the bat, but we had to get the ball into the strike zone,” Martinez continued. “… don’t miss it, okay?”
