Early attack:
Coach Davey Martinez said on Monday afternoon that he thinks the club has done well enough despite the final results so far in 2024 after suffering their third loss in the first four games of the season. .
“We’re not playing badly,” the seventh-year coach told reporters after Monday’s 8-4 loss. pittsburgh pirates at the 2024 home opener.
“There are little things here and there. We’ll try to get them back on Wednesday and win 1-0 on Wednesday.”
He said the offense has to pick it up, especially against opposing starters early in the game.
The Nationals’ batting lineup allowed only four hits, two walks, and one run in five innings against Pirates starting pitcher Marco Gonzalez on Monday.
“I think Gonzalez only threw 62 pitches or something like that in the first five innings,” Martinez said.
Photo by Jess Rapfogel/Getty Images
“We have to jump on their starting pitching. We talk about it every day. We have to try to break out on their starting pitching. We have to get deeper in the count.
“Once again, we chased a lot of balls off the bat,” he said, diagnosing the Bucs’ offensive struggles against their starters.
“Everything today was trying to push him out. He doesn’t throw a lot of strikes out there, so we tried to get him out of the at-bat, but we chased a lot of balls,” Ta.
“We had to figure out what we wanted to do and how we wanted to attack them.
“We scored first and put a lot of pressure on the other team, so we had to start doing that.”
Are you waiting on Laney’s tongue?:
Tanner Rainey, who returned from Tommy John surgery and appeared in one major league game late in the 2023 season, hit about 92.2 mph with his fastball (Down from last season’s average of 96-97 mph.), it was an issue he said earlier this spring that would work out as the season progressed.
Nationals manager Davey Martinez said Laney’s speed in the first game of the 2024 season extends to his debut in the season opener in Cincinnati.
“I was nervous on opening day,” Martinez explained.
“He’ll get that out of the way. Let’s see what happens on Saturday.”
Asked before Saturday’s game about his level of concern about Rainey’s progress, Martinez said the 31-year-old reliever is still growing after a long rehabilitation process.
![Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Washington Nationals](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/tsO4wembDEE9JpNTouWHLmXzmt4=/0x0:3709x2472/1200x0/filters:focal(0x0:3709x2472):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25368365/2123627545.jpg)
Photo by Rob Tringali/MLB Photos (via Getty Images)
“He hasn’t pitched much in the past year,” the captain said. “He pitched one inning for us last year.
“So I’m going to get him used to the situation and see how it goes. His velo isn’t quite at the level that we think it is yet, so we’ll see how it goes. It’s still day one. Let’s see how he does. I’m glad he’s back and I’m glad he’s pitching.
“We’re going to get him out there, but it’s probably going to be a more low-leverage situation until he develops.”
Martinez said Rainey doesn’t need to get back to his career average of 96-97 mph to be effective.
“Even if he was in it, [93s] and [94s] It will definitely help a lot,” he explained.
Martinez also said that the depth of the bullpen they have assembled this year will allow them to bring him in slowly as Rainey recovers.
“That’s certainly helpful, but what you’re talking about is… [Dylan] Floro wasn’t able to pitch much due to an injury in spring training. Matt Barnes was acquired late. We also need to be careful about such people. So I got the other three of him, [Derek] Law threw the ball really well.you have [Jordan] Weems, I understand. [Kyle] Finnegan, I understand. [Hunter] harvey and robert [Garcia], he did really well too. We’ll lean on them in situations where we think they’re a good fit, but the other players are veterans and know how to pitch and will be asked to pitch in some key situations. ”
![](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/0eenEy917M0gD9uCDWM8Xq4y1pU=/0x0:1277x457/1200x0/filters:focal(0x0:1277x457):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25368363/Screen_Shot_2024_04_02_at_10.27.36_PM.png)
Rainey’s second appearance of the year was also tough.
Rainey took the mound in the top of the ninth inning on Monday, allowing consecutive one-out singles, a wild pitch, and a two-run double to ultimately give the visiting Pirates an 8-3 lead. The game was 8-4 in favor of the visitors.
However, Rainey averaged 94.3 mph with his fastball, peaked at 95.7 mph, and had four strikeouts on the pitch (along with five of his sliders), his velo was still more than 2 MPH above his career average.
“He threw the ball better today,” Martinez said. “His velo was up to 95, which was really great. I think it’s just a matter of time for him. He hasn’t pitched in a long time. But we need to take advantage of him. He’s part of the bullpen. I think he’s going to get better. He loses the strike zone when he gets two strikes, so we always talk to him about finishing within three or four pitches. That guy is the last one. Had a pretty good at-bat, but I thought he threw the ball — a couple ground hits, but other than that his slider was good, I thought he threw the ball better.”