The Washington Nationals have been comeback kids lately, winning back-to-back games against Oakland last weekend to notch their third and fourth walk-off wins since the All-Star Break.
Sunday’s win saw the Nats score six in the final frame to turn a 7-2 deficit into an 8-2 win, and as GM Mike Rizzo even noted in his weekly appearance with the Junks Wednesday, you just don’t see that.
“It’s crazy, six runs in the ninth to win it…doesn’t happen very often. Very unlikely, but you put yourself in a position to do that with great at-bats,” Rizzo said. “Late inning relievers, when they start walking guys, it gives the other team hope, and crazy things happen. The guys have been battling all year, and they grinded it out and had some great at-bats. It’s so refreshing to see those guys never give up.”
Unfortunately, the good times didn’t keep rolling Tuesday, as the Red Sox made a 5-4 lead after four innings hold up to end the Nats’ streak. Part of that was the hole they were put in by Josiah Gray, who was charged with five runs over three-plus innings, departing two batters into the fourth after throwing 83 pitches and leaving the tying and winning runs in scoring position.
Gray was the Nats’ lone All-Star, but he is 1-3 with a 5.83 ERA in six starts since the break, and three straight August starts where he has failed to get out of the fifth inning. The righty is up to 130 innings after a career-high 149 2/3 last year, so is there concern he’s starting to fatigue?
“Last night he ran out of gas, got a little fatigued on a hot night after throwing a lot of pitches in a couple of those innings, but I don’t think he’s tired overall,” Rizzo said. “I talked to Davey about it, and what we see is too many noncompetitive pitches – you get ahead 0-2, then throw a couple non-competitive pitches, a couple foul balls, and it’s a nine-pitch at-bat. We’d like to get to where instead of hunting strikeouts, he’s more efficient with pitch count and gets deeper into games. Jojo’s come a long way, he’s added pitches and we’ve broken down the analytics on it, and he’s going to continue to grow. I don’t think the innings will be an issue.”
Those three August starts have skewed Gray’s second half line, as he has allowed 14 runs in 11 1/3 innings, and Rizzo is hopeful the end of July Gray will return.
“Pitchers at times go through a little lull, and hopefully he’ll work his way out of it and finish strong,” Rizzo said. “I like the way he competes. He’s a guy who wants to learn, and for a young pitcher, I think we’ve got a good one.”
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That all said, the Nationals will likely use a six-man rotation for the time being, knowing that Gray, MacKenzie Gore, and Jake Irvin are all getting into uncharted territory, while veteran Trevor Williams is at an innings total he hasn’t seen since 2019 as well.
“We did that starting with Joan Adon’s last start – we’re going to go with that for the foreseeable future,” Rizzo said. “Gore and Irvin will have some innings restrictions and Williams hasn’t been a starter for a few years, so we’re concerned with protecting those players, and we feel we have enough young itching coming up that we can slot those guys in to get experience and still be competitive.”
Bish noted how the Rays are losing young starters left and right to major injuries this season,
“Your job is to do everything you can to be proactive and prevent that, and sometimes it still happens – look at Cade Cavalli,” Rizzo said. “It’s how you rehab them and bring them back, and care for the person behind the pitcher, and I think we do as good a job of that as anyone.”
Take a listen to Rizzo’s entire segment above, which also includes thoughts on the differences this year with a new balanced schedule, as well as prospects in the system!
Mike Rizzo's appearance with the Sports Junkies is presented exclusively by our partners at MainStreet Bank — Cheer Local. Bank Local. Put Our Team in Your Office."
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