Washington Nationals news & notes: Josiah Gray out early in Nationals’ 6-3 loss to Blue Jays…

Gray VS Jays:

“Josiah [Gray] He wasn’t very sharp, but he pitched when he needed it and gave us a strong six innings,” Nationals manager Davey Martinez said after the Washington starter held off while giving five walks. told reporters. new york yankees‘ Batter scores with one hit (solo home run) won 2-1 in the Bronx.

The fact that Gray was as successful as the game despite throwing more balls than strikes shows how good the starter’s arsenal is now, the manager said.

“For me, it’s a testament to how good his work is,” Martinez explained. “But he pitched when he needed it, that’s the key. He gave the bases, but he made a few key pitches when he needed it.

“And he knows.

“He will compete and give you everything he has.”

“Today I obviously fought with the command, and my job wasn’t very good,” Gray told reporters. What MASN’s Mark Zuckerman quoted after going out. “But we managed to get out of the traffic jam.

“We have to go back to the drawing board and keep attacking the strike zone.”

Taking the mound with a 1-0 lead, Gray walked two batters and allowed an infield hit with two outs in the bottom of the first inning last night’s series opener against the Blue Jays in Toronto, Calif. . But a fly to left-center knocked the Nationals starter off the long 23-ball frame unscathed.

After Vladimir Guerrero, Jr.’s 93 mph first pitch into the 392-foot zone with a 2-run to right-center that gave the home team the winning streak, the right-hander threw up to 51 pitches to get 3 on the night. Although he was trailing by -1, after catching up with a few walks and an RBI in the early stages of the inning, the difference was 2 points. Gray’s 59th pitch, a full-count slider to Davis Schneider, was out in the right field seat, driving Guerrero Jr. to make it 4-1 and throwing 63 pitches before getting through the second.

The manager apparently thought that was enough as he headed to the pen at home half in the bottom of the third inning.

Josiah Gray line: 2.0 IP, 4H, 4R, 4ER, 4BB, 2Ks, 63P, 36S, 0/4GO/FO.

“[Gray] threw 40 balls [second] Martinez told reporters after the 6-3 loss to the Jays.

“He seemed to struggle a little bit with his mechanics. Physically, mentally, I think he’s fine, but he was pushing a lot of pitches. I didn’t want to send it back there.”

What did the manager see in Gray’s mechanic?

“He was flying really badly open,” Martinez said. “He couldn’t stay behind the ball, he pushed a lot of the ball and his mistakes were far, so we talked to him, watched some movies and hoped to see him before his next start. I will try to fix it.”

Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports

3 backstops:

Keibert Lewis allayed some concerns after starting last night’s game against the Blue Jays, getting the bell rang for a foul ball at Yankee Stadium, seeing a dentist and being underplayed in Miami. Nonetheless, the Nationals spoke of Drew Millers, 25, who has been traveling with the team in recent days before the start of last night’s opener against the Blue Jays in Toronto, where they opted to sign.

Acquired by the 2021 trade deadline, Milas was the “Best Defensive Catcher” in Oakland’s organization. baseball americabefore the Athletics signed him to D.C. that season, and as the club said in a press release on Monday’s transfer, he was “… the best strike zone discipline in Washington’s minor league system in 2022.” ” baseball america”

Photo by John McDonnell/Washington Post via Getty Images

Appearing in 83 games and 238 at-bats between Double-A and Triple-A this season in the Nationals system, the switch-hitter catcher has a .291/.390/.442 combined batting average with 15 doubles, 3 triples and a home run. 7 were recorded. He ran before being called up to the taxi team and was then selected to the big league roster.

Nationals manager Davey Martinez told reporters before playing the first three games against the Jays at the Rogers Center that the addition of a third catcher would split catching duties between Millers, Lewis and Riley Adams. He said that this would give him options for the future (Lewis and Adams occasionally played together in the lineup as either of them as DH).

“I used to catch opponents with DH, so it’s not that different,” Martinez explained. “For me, it’s a lot easier now that he’s here and we have a third catcher. But Milas is also a really good athlete. So he’s here for us. It will do a lot of things.

“Obviously he’s going to catch, and I’d like to have him there and mix him in from time to time. But he’s a switch hitter and is very athletic. I mean, he’ll get the chance to do a few different things, but he can pinch hit, pinch run, and even catch for us, so I’m excited to have all three of these catchers. Yes, it gives me a little more flexibility behind the plate.”

Ranked 23rd in the organization on MLB Pipeline’s list of prospects, only 23-year-old Israel Pineda, 22, was the only catcher on the list, but Millers is both in the minors. He showed stable results in the match and won first place for the first time. promoted to major.

“I knew he was a good athlete,” Martinez told reporters. “He put up some numbers but struggled in consistent parts of the game. He was very consistent in hitting all the way up to Triple-A, so we’re excited to see what he can do here.”

Milas won’t be the last high profile young player in the system this season, certainly not the last, but Martinez says it’s happening at an important time for the organization and is one of the next promising players. He said a wave was coming. You get a chance too.

“The evolution of our minor league system is going very well,” Martinez said.

“We’re excited not only for now, but for the next group of players that’s coming out as we’ve got them and we’re developing them to be ready for us here, They will come out.”

“We are getting better. because we want to win the game We are not just looking to rebuild here. We’re competing and trying to win the game and they’re playing really well. ”

Asked by the Nationals leadership last Sunday if they had any good ideas about who to bring to a larger roster, Martinez said they’ve talked about it but shared nothing so far. I answered no.

“We’ve been talking about different things, different directions,” Martinez said.

“We haven’t come to a firm conclusion yet, but we’re definitely talking about putting some players on the shortlist, so we’ll see what happens here very soon.”

Also this Rest in peace, Pat: