Washington Nationals big three explodes in beautiful shutout win

The Nationals had a resounding 8-0 win over the San Francisco Giants to win the series. However, the biggest positive of the day was how the Nats star players performed. It has been a rough last month for MacKenzie Gore, James Wood, and to a lesser extent CJ Abrams. Today they played like their early season selves.

It was Gore who set the tone today. He was in desperate need of a great start and he delivered today. Since becoming an All-Star, Gore’s performances had been nothing short of horrific. We took a deep dive into some of his issues earlier today.

We talked a lot about how he has not been getting as many whiffs, especially on his curveball. He flipped the script on that today. Gore got a spectacular 21 swings and misses today. He was getting whiffs on all five of his offerings consistently today. The breaking balls had much more bite than they had in recent starts.

The other big thing we talked about was Gore’s lack of command. However, he was pin point today. He was not only throwing strikes, but also throwing quality strikes. Pretty much all of his pitches were competitive, which puts more stress on the hitters. Gore looked like the guy he was in the first half.

Another guy who has really gotten going the last few games is James Wood. The strikeouts are still a bit unsettling, and he had three today, but the extra base hits are coming back. Wood now has five extra base hits in his last three games since being moved to the leadoff spot.

Today, Wood had a pair of doubles which drove in four runs. He set the tone in the second inning with a two run double. After Daylen Lile and Riley Adams got hits with nobody out, it looked like they would be stranded after Brady House and Jacob Young could not come through. However, Wood saved the day, hitting a double off of future Hall of Famer Justin Verlander.

While CJ Abrams slump has not been as bad as Wood or Gore, he had also struggled since the All-Star break. However, he had a big day today. Abrams followed up Wood’s double with a towering two run home run to break the game open.

It was great to see the Nats star players perform. If they can play like they did the first three months, the last six weeks of the season will be much more watchable. It will also give Nats fans some real hope for the future if their stars can finish strong.

However, they were not the only guys to produce today. The Nats got a resounding 17 hits today. Besides Wood and Abrams, Josh Bell, Paul DeJong, Riley Adams and Daylen Lile all had multi-hit games.

Contenders should regret not bringing in Bell. While his season numbers are only ok, he has been a high end player since May. The bullpen was also excellent today, with three scoreless innings from Cole Henry, PJ Poulin and Clayton Beeter. What a pair of performances from the Nats and hopefully they can take this momentum to Kansas City.

Leave a Comment