The Washington Nationals will try to start another winning streak when they host the Miami Marlins in the opener of a three-game series on Friday night.
The Nationals had won five in a row, their longest winning streak in nearly three years, before losing 7-2 to the host Detroit Tigers on Thursday afternoon.
“We won the series, so we get to go home now and start a fresh one,” Washington manager Dave Martinez said.
The Nationals plan to start left-hander MacKenzie Gore in the series opener.
Gore (5-5, 3.57 ERA) is coming off his second win against the Atlanta Braves in 11 days. He allowed two runs (one earned) and six hits in five-plus innings of a 7-3 win against the visiting Braves on Saturday, striking out seven and walking one.
On May 29, he produced a similar line at Atlanta, giving up two runs (one earned) and six hits in 5 1/3 innings of a 7-2 win. He struck out 10 and didn’t walk a batter.
In between those starts, Gore endured his roughest outing of the season, when he surrendered six runs and seven hits in 4 1/3 innings of an 8-7 road loss to the New York Mets.
“I’m an emotional guy, always have been since I was young,” he said. “Things get frustrating at times, but it’s just about being able to make a pitch when we need to.”
Gore, selected third overall by the San Diego Padres in the 2017 draft, was traded to the Nationals two years ago as part of the deal that sent Juan Soto to San Diego.
Gore was originally penciled in to start the series finale in Detroit, but a fingernail issue pushed back his start.
He has made one career start against the Marlins, going allowing four runs in 5 1/3 innings during a loss on May 17, 2023.
Infielder Trey Lipscomb, called up by Washington from Triple-A Rochester on Tuesday to replace injured first baseman Joey Gallo, is expected to make his first major league appearance this weekend since mid-May.
“He’s going to play,” Martinez said. “We’ve got a couple lefties coming up (against the Marlins), so I’m going to put him out there. I haven’t decided where yet, but he’ll play here in the next few days.”
The Marlins were two outs from earning their sixth series win of the season and their fifth in the past month, but closer Tanner Scott gave up a two-run, walk-off homer in the ninth inning to the Mets’ J.D. Martinez in a 3-2 loss on Thursday.
Scott had not allowed an earned run in his past 20 innings (19 appearances) dating to mid-April.
“Tanner’s been good all season, went on quite a scoreless run, sometimes those are going to happen,” Miami manager Skip Schumaker said. “Being a closer, you’re going to have some bad days.”
On the positive side for the Marlins, shortstop Tim Anderson went 2-for-4 in all three games of the series at New York to bump his average to .209.
Jake Burger and Jazz Chisholm Jr. homered to account for Miami’s only runs on Thursday.
“Burger and Jazz, both big hits at the time, just couldn’t get anything going other than those two homers,” Schumaker said. “We had some guys on base, just couldn’t get those extra runs.”
Schumaker had not decided on a starting pitcher for the series opener in Washington as of Thursday night.
–Field Level Media