Two outta three ain’t bad, as Meat Loaf once said, and after the Nationals took that in weather-hampered series in Colorado over the weekend, Mitchell Parker SHOVED last night against the O’s with eight one-hit shutout innings.
So, tonight, Washington has a chance to get at least two out of three in the Battle of the Beltway, and they’ll be looking to STARTER to hopefully have as good a night as Parker did.
“He's been a very consistent pitcher for us the last year and a half, since we brought him up, and he had everything working last night. He was pounding the strike zone and kept the batters off-balance, and kept the ball off the barrel of the bat,” Washington general manager Mike Rizzo said during his weekly appearance on Wednesday with 106.7 The Fan's The Sports Junkies, which is presented exclusively by our partners at MainStreet Bank — Cheer Local. Bank Local. Put Our Team in Your Office. Member FDIC. Equal Housing Lender.
A pair of young stars also had a big night at the plate, as Dylan Crews hit a bomb of home run in the sixth and James Wood had three hits on the night they gave away his bobblehead.
“Yeah, we had a good plan of attack against (Dean) Kremer, we got balls in the zone and didn't chase many pitches, which has kind of been our Achilles heel; when we're bad offensively, we chase out of the zone too much, and we got balls in the zone and barreled them up last night,” Rizzo said. “It was a good plan of attack, and Lowe got us going when he got a slider and deposited in the outfield, and Wood’s been great for us.”
But when it comes to Crews, it looks like the No. 2 pick from a couple years ago is finally starting to come out of his shell after a rough start to the season.
“His last eight games or so has been what we think he should be. He’s been a slow starter every rung in the minor leagues, he starts slow and kind of figures out a league and does well,” Rizzo said. “We’re all very hopeful that this is just another part of his development where start a little slow, starting to get a feel for it; pitchers made an adjustment to him, he’s starting to make adjustments to them, and they did a few mechanical tweaks with his swing, got a bit a little bit more upright so I think he feels a lot better in the box. And, they're getting Gold Glove defense from him in center and in right, and he's a great base runner; he’s just a good baseball player, so excited to see him get going.”
Take a listen to Rizzo’s entire visit, which also looks at his travels as a scout, more on the Nats’ young core developing, and more!