Sweep in Philadelphia:
Those hectic days (Or that day, really) It was only five games ago that we had a .500 ball club in Washington, D.C., which seems like a nice but distant memory at this point. But after a three-game sweep at their hands; phillies The Nationals lost their fifth straight game at Citizens Bank Park, falling 11-5 in the final game of the series in Philadelphia to fall to 20-25.
Sunday got off to a good start with Trevor Williams allowing two runs early, but the Nats tied the score at 2-2 on Eddie Rosario’s two-run homer in the fourth inning and took the lead in the fifth. Jesse Winker hit a home run off Phillies starter Aaron Nola, but the Phils tied it up in the fifth inning and took the lead, scoring until Nola settled in the top seven with just two hits, three walks, and three runs allowed. continued. Run, 2 points.
The loss ended their trip to Boston, Chicago and the City of Brotherly Love with a 2-7 record, but they now return home for a series. minnesota twins In the nation’s capital.
“Towards the end, I was swinging the bat a little bit better just getting the ball in the zone,” Martinez said after suffering his third loss in three games against the Phillies.
“Again, you have to stop chasing, so you can hit the ball better,” he added.
“We both hit a couple of home runs today, so we had to start capitalizing on the opportunities when we got on base. Nola was good again, he’s a tough opponent. , kept us off balance, but we have to come back tomorrow. We have another good team coming tomorrow, so we’ll do our best to win 1-0 tomorrow.”
How will his team react when they return home after a grueling trip?
Coach Martinez told reporters: “The players will be motivated because they can return home after a long trip and play in front of the fans.” “But like I said, we just have to go back and focus on the little things. The more we do that, the more we’re going to be really competitive. And we… We’re going to do that. They don’t give up and they play hard. So we’re going to come back and start winning some games again and make it interesting.”
Sunday wasn’t bad at all.
“I saw some really positive things,” Martinez said.
“Trevor gave us everything he had. The outfield play was pretty good. Jacob [Young] He played really well. Winker made some great plays. ”
And after being shut out twice on the road, the Nationals scored five points and scored two or fewer points in five of nine games. What did he see from the batters, especially after that?
“At bat, keep the ball in the zone, stay in the middle of the field without chasing. We started hitting the ball well. That’s how we have to start. We have to start the game that way. I know some of these starters are good, but we needed to get the ball in the zone so we can hit the ball well.”
“I thought hitting those two home runs would break the ice,” he said at another point in the postgame press conference.
“But Nora stayed calm and kept us off balance. And nothing got going until late in the game.”
Abrams anecdote:
CJ Abrams finished April with a .295/.373/.619 line, but things were looking a little tough heading into this weekend’s series at Citizens Bank Park.
Through 14 games in May, the 23-year-old shortstop posted a .196/.220/.250 line for the month, and Abrams said Friday’s game against the Phillies was a well-hit ball that didn’t go in. Hit songs were gradually reaching him.
Abrams struck out the first two innings against Zack Wheeler, but at that point the manager decided he needed to do something different.
“I was joking around with him,” Davey Martinez told reporters before Saturday’s game. “He stepped up to the plate again in his first at-bat. And he sat there and said, ‘I’m tired of lining up.’ So I said to him, “Hey, why don’t you jump around three times and see if you can change your luck?”And I thought nothing of it, I think he was jumping in circles behind me three times, and [Bench Coach] miguel [Cairo] I started laughing and [Abrams] “Why did you do that?” I said. I said, “I just want to take my mind off my at-bat and go to my next at-bat, right?”
Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images
“And he came out in the third inning and hit a double, and he said, ‘Hey, that worked.'”
“‘Great.’ I said, ‘Dude, I’ve been flying around my whole career,'” said the 16-year major league veteran and seventh-year captain.
Overall, Martinez said Abrams did a good job of putting aside tough at-bats and mistakes in the field and moving on to the next pitch, at-bat or play in the field.
“Hey, look, every player, when they square the ball, they want it to fall,” the coach said.
“I mean, like everyone, this is a game of inches, right? You’re going to hit the ball hard and get an out. Sometimes you’re going to put the ball in there.
“They say everything will even out. It doesn’t. But I’m happy when it does. My job is to try to get them to forget about it and get ready for their next at-bat.”
“He does good things. When he gets into the on-deck circle, he goes into his next at-bat.”
