Washington Nationals news & notes: MacKenzie Gore struggles again; Nats win series, fail to sweep Angels…

“At some point you have to stop having conversations about progress,” the left-handed starting pitcher said. Mackenzie Gore told reporters: After allowing eight hits (Two of them are HR) 2 walks, 5 runs (4 Acquisition“…because I’m a lot better than this,” he replied after pitching five innings on the mound against San Francisco at Nationals Park last week.

“I’m pitching better than I am right now. I need to pitch better,” the pitcher added.

“Obviously I want to pitch better,” he said, “but I found a way to get through five innings and put them on the defensive end, so hopefully I can build on that.”

Four of the Giants’ hits, four of their runs and one of their walks came in the first of his five innings, but he settled down and allowed four hits, one walk and one more run over the next four innings.

“He’s really settled in,” manager Davey Martinez said, “started throwing strikes, started trusting his fastball, threw a really good fastball and got some good outs for us.”

Gore did win the game, leading Washington to an 11-6 victory, but he went from a 3.24 ERA, 2.95 FIP, and .262/.327/.383 ERA in 75 innings in 14 starts earlier in the season to a 7.24 ERA, 4.79 FIP, and .314/.398/.491 ERA in 41 innings in nine starts.

Unfortunately, he started Sunday against the Los Angeles Angels and couldn’t keep up the momentum he had in the final few innings against the Giants.

He threw 29 pitches, allowing two walks and one single in a scoreless inning, singles with one out in the second and third innings, but then came apart in the fourth inning, when Gore and the Nationals defense walked the leadoff batter, followed by a single and a grounder to third baseman Jose Tena for a 1-0 ROE, a second walk, a double play that led to a run, and then consecutive walks with two outs loaded the bases before Kevin Pillar’s bases-clearing double made it 5-0.

He threw a total of 86 pitches and was done for the day.

Gore walked a career-high six batters overall and 13 batters total in the Nationals’ 6-4 loss to the Angels.

“It’s been tough,” Gore said of the long struggle. Quote from MASN’s Mark Zuckerman.

“I’m trying to figure out how to pitch better and give myself a chance to win every time. I don’t know yet, but I’m going to keep working at it. I have good people around me and I think I’m doing the right things before the game. It’s just not going well when I get out there.”

“We have to continue working with him,” Martinez said. Melanie Martinez-Lopez of MLB.com“He’s got to understand that strike one is going to be his best pitch. He led batters today and was 4-for-17, but then he falls behind. … And on the foul balls, he’s got to stay ahead and get going.”

Of Gore’s 86 pitches, the batter fouled off 19, including 10 fastballs and seven sliders, giving Gore just seven strikes and calling eight of them strikes.

“I felt like there were a lot of foul balls today,” he said. “I’m not sure if it was because the velocity was off a little bit or because the ball was dropping, but why aren’t they hitting pop flies or taking strikeouts? They’re hitting foul balls. We had some of those at-bats today.”

[ed. note – “ * = He was, on everything but his changeup.”]

“He’s got really good talent so we just have to keep pushing it,” Martinez stressed.

“I thought our mechanics were fine today,” the captain said. “The ball was coming out well. It was 3-2, 3-2, 3-2, and then foul, foul, foul, walk.”

This includes:

Nationals rookie Jose Tena, who hit a walk-off home run in his Nationals debut, becoming the first player in franchise history (Montana/Washington) to hit a walk-off home run in his first game, injured his finger on a potential double play grounder in the fifth inning and left the game after the play, being replaced by Ildemaro Vargas at third base.

Apparently, he cut his thumb nail during the play.

“We’re glad Jose is OK. His nail is a little damaged, but he’ll be OK,” manager Davey Martinez said after the game.