Washington Nationals news & notes: James Wood and MacKenzie Gore lead Nats to win over Marlins…

Gorgeous:

As Mackenzie Gore prepares to make his 30th start in the 2024 season, Nationals manager Davey Martinez told reporters he wants to see the left-hander build on his success on the mound this season.

“Just attacking the strike zone, competing and getting efficient,” Martinez stressed. “I’d like him to finish the day with about 90 pitches. If he can pitch six innings that would be great, but we’ll see how he pitches today.”

“Everybody talks about him throwing electric pitches. He’s a pitcher who attacks the strike zone hard.”

A walk to the leadoff batter and one out, followed by 31 pitches in the first inning (in which Gore struck out two batters), suggested Gore would not be able to increase his pitch count as much as Martinez had hoped, but he worked efficiently from there, throwing 93 pitches over six innings, allowing just two hits and one earned run, walking two batters in the first inning and none after that, and striking out five of the 22 batters he faced.

Gore struck out 10 batters — five on his curveball, three on his fastball and two on his changeup — and finished with 17 strikeouts — eight each on his four-seam fastball and curveball and one on his slider.

“He settled down after the first inning,” Martinez said. Quote from MASN’s Bobby BlancoWashington won the series finale against the Miami Marlins, 4-1, in the nation’s capital.

“I thought he was a little fast with his pitches in the first innings. He settled down a little bit and bounced back. He slowed down a little bit and got used to throwing strikes again. He threw curveballs, he kept the ball low. They didn’t hit the ball as hard today, which was nice.”

“He was a bit out of control early on, but then he looked good,” Gore said when asked about his success after getting through the first inning.

“After that, I just thought I did what I had to do. [first inning]”… It just came out kind of slowly. But we figured it out, and that’s all that matters.”

Gore earned his ninth win (9-12, 4.17 ERA) in his 30th start of the season, a feat the left-hander called “a big accomplishment.”

“This is big. This is important,” Gore added. “When you’re in a situation like this this time of year, you’ve all been there. Yes, this is big, but it’s not over yet.”

After the game, the Nationals noted that Gore “…has posted a 1.95 ERA (six earned runs in 27.2 innings) with 27 strikeouts and a .212 batting average (22 for 104) in his last five starts.”

point!!:

Luis Garcia Jr. singled to tie the game in the fourth inning and scored on a single by Cavert Lewis late in the inning, and then James Wood hit two solo home runs in the fifth inning (435 feet off Marlins starter Adam Oler) and the eighth inning (426 feet off reliever Declan Cronin) and that was enough for the Nationals to win their third of the final four games of the season against the Marlins.

The first of Wood’s two home runs was his first in nearly a month (Aug. 18, at Philadelphia) and with his second, the 21-year-old rookie became the first major leaguer to record multiple home runs.

“you [think about it]”…But sometimes I think, ‘Oh man, I feel like I haven’t hit one in a while,'” Wood said of the extended stretch without an extra-base hit.

He got two at-bats, letting the manager know he was doing well at the plate.

“Hopefully it’s not over today. The swing is great,” Davey Martinez said. “He was behind the ball well. Staying in the middle of the field was great. Let’s keep him there until the end of the year and see if he can get some more hits for us.”

“I think it’s just a timing thing. Right now, when the ball is in the strike zone, I need to pull the trigger a bit more,” he said.

“He did that today and hit it high and far. That’s a good sign for him. And like I said, I expect him to continue to do that here over the next 10 days or so and finish strong.”