Front Page – Corbin Keeps Working:
Patrick Corbin got off to a good start in the series finale with the starting No. 7 for 2023. chicago cubs He pitched two quick scoreless innings on 21 pitches on Thursday at DC.Misplay/samball evasion judged to be a hit in the top of the second inning).
corbin After 408 feet left of Cubs right-hander Jameson Tyrone, they took the mound in third for a 3-0 lead thanks to Lane Thomas hitting a 2-1 cutter from the middle of the plate. Back-to-back singles by Joey Meneses and Dominic Smith opened the inning.
Corbin started the game with 9 of 10 Cubs batters retired after 13 pitches, a 1-2-3 third, and a maximum of 34 pitches, plus 13 of 13 after a 1-2-3 frame. It was 48 pitches with 12 set downs. Fourth top.
Two groundouts around the fifth strikeout on eight pitches had lefties on 56 pitches for the day, and in another 1-2-3 frame, the sixth eight-pitch inning, he totaled 64, 18 of 19 sets. under.
A quick out of three-sevenths of 13 pitches took Corbin a total of 77 pitches, down 21 of 22 pitches, with 12 swings and 12 call strikes.
Corbyn’s retired batting streak ended at 17 on a clean leadoff single from the right side of the infield by Bellinger in the top of the eighth, and a second straight hit, a single to left by Patrick Wisdom, scored a skipper for the Knots. Pitching change mound…
Patrick Corbin’s line: 7.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 6 Ks, 80 P, 57 S, 9/1 GO/FO.
Bullpen action:
Lane Thomas misplayed a fly on the wall when the ball bounced off the fence in front of the Nationals’ bullpen, twisting and failing. Bellinger scored on his two base hits on Trey’s Mancini relief, his Hunter’s Harvey, and went 3-1 nuts.
Miguel Amaya hit a sack fly and one out from Hunter Harvey to make the one-run game 3-2 before Nico Horner tied it on an RBI single from the right, 3-3.
Kyle Finnigan came in and out of the jam in the top of the ninth, with the game still tied, and after giving up a leadoff walk and a double, retired in the third straight to ground both runners before Alex Cole got the first pitch, followed by a double. I hit a four ball. Off home runs in the 9th inning, 4-3 Nationals.
“It was probably the best feeling I’ve ever had on the field,” Cole said after winning his third four-game series against the Cubbys. “I have dreamed of it many times.”
“I knew it was going to go away,” said the Knots skipper of Cole’s reaction to the winning shot.
“I wanted to stay fair,” Martinez said. It was great,” he said.
Like Corbin’s outing.
“Hey, he’s thrown the ball really well six of the last seven times,” Martinez said.
“Today was really Patrick Corbin, as we have seen so far. He is doing great. We can win the game.”
What was different for Corbin, who was arguably his best season so far?
Martinez pointed to a left-handed changeup, throwing 5.7% to 19% of his season average, picking up 5 of his 12 swing strikes that day.
“His changeup was great,” said the manager. “I think it confused them a little bit because they try to look inside. But he threw a changeup effectively like that and knocked them off balance a little bit.”
“I thought everything was going well,” Corbin said. In the words of MASN’s Bobby Blanco.
“I had good command of the fastball. I used the changeup a lot today. [Riley] Adams and the defense played behind me.”
BACK PAGE – Jeter Downs playing every day … Triple A:
Before Wednesday’s game, the Nationals recalled right-hander Jake Irvin from Triple-A Rochester, returned from rehab, brought back infielder Ildemaro Vargas from the injured reserve, and optionally brought infielder Jeter Downs to Triple-A. announced that it had moved to Rochester.
Downes, 24, boston red sox Last December, he was called up from Triple-A on April 11 and didn’t play until the 29th after Vargas was injured. with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Nationals manager Davey Martinez has said several times that Downs needs to play every day at this stage of his development, but with C.J. Downs was up in case he needed a… In short, play.
Photo by Nick Cammett/Diamond Images via Getty Images
It makes more sense for a veteran like Vargas to come off the bench and play sporadically, Martinez said Wednesday after the veteran returned and Downs returned to Triple-A.
“Vargy understands,” Martinez explained. “He understands the situation. is a different story, if one of the middle-field infielders goes down, consider him the next player to play that position, but he has to go play, he has to go there. When I talked to him today, I said, and be prepared, on my locker and on my desk is the saying, “I can’t ignore you.” . And I said, ‘Keep that in mind, go there and knock down the door and come back here.’
What did the sixth-year skipper learn about the Downs? He mostly worked behind the scenes with the big league coaching staff.
“He worked really hard while he was here. I love him,” Martinez said. “When I saw him getting ready every day, hitting, hitting the cage, catching ground balls, my focus was, ‘You have to take this moment and do it when you’re playing the game. This is your game until something happens to get you in there, but in batting practice and on the field, when you’re taking a ground ball, you have to focus on doing everything right. did
“I spoke with the hitting coaches today about the message they wanted him to send and they said they have a good idea of what he needs to do. His passing has gotten much better, now he has to apply that during the game. [Third Base and infield coach Gary DiSarcino] He said, “Hey, he’s got really good feet. He moves well on the ball. So, in the one game I played after he hadn’t played in a long time, it was nice to see him catch the ball and throw it across the field with no problem.Doing it consistently . ”
How does Jake Irvin start again?:
Davey Martinez wasn’t ready to commit to making 26-year-old right-hander Jake Irvin make his second major start after the 2018 fourth-round pick made his MLB debut Wednesday. .
“Uh, I gotta talk to the big guy [GM Mike Rizzo] About that, right? ’ Martinez joked, Words by Mark Zuckerman of MASNafter Irvin’s 4 1/3 inning outing in the Nationals’ 2–1 victory over the Cubs.
“I like him, but I really want him to give me another shot.”
Speaking to reporters Thursday morning before the series finale against the U.S. capital of Chicago, the sixth-year skipper said Irvin would stay around for a while.
“Yeah, we’ll keep him,” Martinez said. “I haven’t decided what I’m going to do with the starter spot yet, but if he’s here until then, it’ll give me another chance.”
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Photo by Jess Rapfogel/Getty Images
Plans are to keep the rotation as-is and no off days in the foreseeable future, but the club will also closely monitor Irvin as he begins work between starts in the next few days.
“We’ll see how he bounces back. He’ll throw the bullpen. We’ll let him go. And like I said, look, if he’s here, he’ll will start,” Martinez said.
“But I want to make sure he’s okay. Like I said, this guy has had a few injuries in the past and I know his last outing was yesterday. He threw 82 pitches. Before he threw 82. Before that, it was always in the 60s, so we have to make sure we take care of him.”
