No more holidays:
Davey Martinez’s team opened their series against the Arizona Diamondbacks in the nation’s capital last night after winning three straight games against the Miami Marlins.Defeated Fish 15-2) are 14-9 in their last 25 games since May 24 and have won eight of their last nine games.
The first of the three DiamondbacksBut the seventh-year manager was cautious when asked about maintaining the momentum.
“It was a lot of fun,” Martinez said of his recent race, “the energy was unbelievable, so I’m looking to take today off and bring it up even more.”
“We have to get them fired up again and today we are playing a team full of energy.
“So we’ve got to get them going. We’ve got to make sure they have the energy today. But they’re playing well.”
Late last night, Diamondbacks right-hander Slade Cecconi6.0 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 6 Ks, 70 P, 52 S), or the 5-0 loss to Arizona’s relief pitchers, Martinez said it was due to good pitching and the Nationals just not playing well.
“Like I said before, I always feel a little down on my days off,” the captain said, “but look at that kid today. [Cecconi] I watched him pitch today and I watched some of the pitches that we got from him. He had some really good movement on the ball. I mean, the balls that we said were missing, they were coming back over the plate. For me, I’m just going to look back on this game and get on with it. We’re playing well. I’m not going to dwell on it.
“We just need to go back and prepare for tomorrow’s game and try to win 1-0 tomorrow.”
It didn’t help that Jake Irvin also struggled, ending a 10-game streak in which Nationals starters allowed two runs or less.
Irvin gave up two runs early in the game, walking leadoff hitter Corbin Carroll before Ketel Marte hit a two-run homer. Marte hit a knee-high curveball right down the middle for a 414-foot extra-base hit to right-center field, striking out two batters and putting the visitors up 2-0. Irvin’s control wasn’t great, but he held the Diamondbacks to just two runs in the first inning and got inning-ending double plays in each of the next three innings, but he allowed a leadoff double, an RBI triple and a sacrifice fly in the fifth to make it 4-0.
“I don’t know exactly,” Irvin said of what went wrong Tuesday night.
“I didn’t have much control over my fastball tonight, and that’s not the path to success, it put me in a really bad count.”
Asked whether his problem was mechanical or something else, Irvin couldn’t say.
“I can’t say that,” he said.
“Mentally everything felt pretty good, so I don’t think that’s what it was.
“Probably a mechanical issue, we’ll go back and check tomorrow, but overall we need to be more competitive than that.”
“He was just flying a little bit open,” Martinez said.
“I talked to him a little bit about direction and I thought he pitched a lot better in the fifth inning, but he wasn’t in good form today and he was hitting a lot of batters.”
Ceconia, on the other hand, pitched efficiently and confused the Nationals all night long, striking out just five times on the night but throwing 21 strikes, 16 of which were fastballs over 93 mph and topping out at 96 mph.
Photo: Mitchell Leighton/Getty Images
“He attacked the strike zone, but he had good movement on his fastball,” Martinez said.
“He was hitting his fastball well. We just didn’t seem to be able to handle some of his fastballs. He pitched well, but we just couldn’t get anything done offensively.”
“He was at home plate all night so we had to be a little more aggressive and try to get the ball up in the air, but like I said, he pitched well today.”
Jesse Winker, who had two of the Nationals’ four hits on the night (along with C.J. Abrams, who was the first pitcher to get two hits in a losing game and extended his hitting streak to 11 games), said Cecconi looked really good.
“He was really good. Really good fastball, really good changeup. The fastball was explosive and the changeup had a lot of movement. He did really well tonight.”
“He was commanding both ways,” Winker added. “He’s very talented and had a great night tonight. Hats off to him.”
Winker didn’t seem too worried about the offense continuing to struggle as it did Tuesday night.
“We’re a really good offensive line so we’re just going to keep doing what we’ve been doing. All of our guys pitched really well. That’s the way it goes in this league so we’re just going to be brave and go out there again tomorrow and hopefully have a better day,” Winker said.
“We’ll just come back tomorrow,” Martinez told reporters.
“We’re going to be aggressive in the zone, but today we didn’t chase early on and they just chased us.
“But we’ve got to be aggressive in the zone, stay in the middle of the field like I said, try to start something and just get guys on base.”
Hello:
of San Francisco Giants It was announced last night that Willie Mays “passed away peacefully” on Tuesday afternoon at the age of 93 (1931-2024).
It is with deep sadness that we announce that San Francisco Giants legend and Hall of Famer Willie Mays passed away peacefully this afternoon at the age of 93. pic.twitter.com/Qk4NySCFZQ
— SF Giants (@SFGiants) June 19, 2024
Mays began his professional career in 1948 with the Birmingham Black Barons of the Negro American League, before beginning his MLB career with the then-New York Giants in 1951. After two years (1953) of his 23-year career, he enlisted in the military, before returning to the Giants in 1954 and moving with the franchise to San Francisco in 1958.
The Hall of Famer finished his two major league seasons with a .301 batting average, .384 on-base percentage, .557 slugging percentage, 525 doubles and 660 home runs in 3,005 career games. New York Mets From 1972 to 1973.
He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1979.
Mays met Nationals manager Davey Martinez during his playing days with San Francisco, and Martinez spoke last night about Mays’ impact.
“I knew Willie. I was with the Giants. He was with us in spring training and coached. He was just a great guy. His impact on the baseball world is unbelievable.”
“He taught me a lot about outfield defense when I was there. So my condolences go out to his family and the entire baseball community. A Hall of Fame player and what he did for the game and what he did for the fans of San Francisco. He was such a big part of the Bay Area. A great guy. Really, a great guy. It’s sad. It’s really sad.”
