Washington Nationals news & notes: MacKenzie Gore Ks 10 in 7-2 win over Braves in Atlanta…

Notes and quotes from MacKenzie Gore’s impressive outing in Atlanta…

GORE IN ATL:

Mackenzie Gore struck out 10 of the 22 batters he faced on Wednesday night in Truist Park, without walking one batter, making him just the 11th player in Washington Nationals’ history to manage the feat.

Gore joins Josiah Gray, Patrick Corbin, Tanner Roark, Gio González, and John Lannan, who all did it once, with Joe Ross, Jordan Zimmermann, and John Patterson doing it twice, and Stephen Strasburg (10) and Max Scherzer (20) atop the list.

Gore, 25, gave up six hits and two runs (one earned), in 5 ¹⁄₃ IP against the Braves in the 3rd of 4 in Atlanta this week, leading the club to a 7-2 win which guaranteed at least a split with their NL East rivals.

He threw 97 pitches in his 5+ innings on the mound, with a total of 13 swinging and 11 called strikes on the night, with one run scoring after an error in the home-half of the third, and the earned run coming after he left the mound with two on and one out in the sixth, after he gave up a leadoff single, and after collecting his 10th K, a double which put two runners in scoring position, one of whom scored once Dylan Floro took over.

Gore’s 10-K start came a night after rotation mate Jake Irvin reached double digits in Ks with 10 of his own in a 2-0 loss.

“To have two guys, young guys like that, strike out 10 [in] each game against a team that can hit, that’s pretty impressive,” Davey Martinez said after the Gore-led 7-2 win.

“MacKenzie was the guy who kept us in the game the whole night and pitched really well,” the manager added at another point in his post game press conference.

“We always talk about [how] MacKenzie’s stuff is really good. They’re utilizing his fastball, but they’re also mixing in the breaking balls when they need to, and they’re being effective, and they’re getting better at being efficient. And that’s what I love about them. [Pitching Coach Jim] Hickey talks about that every day with these guys. Understanding what you can do in certain situations, they’re buying in and they’re doing well.”

Irvin’s two walks in the second of three played in Atlanta, are the only walks Washington’s starters have issued in the series, something that thrills their manager.

“We have to attack the strike zone,” Martinez said. “That’s kind of what we need to do.

“We can’t give free passes. Our starting pitchers have been doing well with that, they really have. And it’s been a trickle effect with all these guys.

“They’re attacking the zone and putting hitters in swing mode, so it’s been good.”

Lane Thomas hit a three-run home run in the fifth, after the Nationals fell behind 1-0 early, and Jacob Young drove in two in the sixth with a single which put the visitors up 5-1, then Keibert Ruiz’s two-run single in the ninth provided some insurance, 7-2 final.

Martinez said he saw a change in the at-bats after Thomas’s blast put the Nationals ahead.

“It was a big one for us,” he explained.

“But I kept saying, we keep getting traffic, somebody is about ready to drive in a run. I think we were 0 for 4 before that, but it was a big run for us.

“After we got the lead it seems like everybody just kind of opened up and we started having better at-bats.”

RIZZO ON ROBLES DFA:

In his first appearance with Audacy’s The Sport Junkies on 106.7 the FAN since the Nationals made the tough decision to DFA 27-year-old outfielder Victor Robles, who signed with the club out of the Dominican Republic back in 2013, debuted in 2017, and helped win the World Series back in 2019. It was an emotional moment for everyone involved, including manager Davey Martinez, who had worked with Robles since 2018.

In the end, however, Rizzo said, it came down to a roster crunch, and with Jacob Young in center and playing well for the club, Lane Thomas returning from the IL, and a number of young, highly-regarded outfield prospects making their way up in the system, it was in the end the right decision to designate Robles for assignment, and give him an opportunity to explore other options around the league.

Photo by Elsa/Getty Images

“This is a cruel business at times,” Rizzo told the Junkies Wednesday morning.

“We’d love to have a 50-man roster and that type of thing, but you’ve got to follow the rules and construct your roster accordingly, and we just felt that [Jacob] Young has earned the right to play ever day in the big leagues, in center field. I think that he’s a spark plug for the team, I think that he’s a guy that is going to be here when we’re winning championships again, and really helping the ballclub win and with the group of outfielders that are soon to be here from the minor leagues, I think that just the numbers game got [Robles].

“We needed to create a spot for Lane,” he continued, “and I thought that not only for us and our roster crunch, but also for Victor, I think that was a big part of the equation for me — is that this guy is 27 years old, he’s still got a lot of tools, and he was floundering here, so he needs a new color uniform, a change of scenery, and see if he can take off and do some stuff.”

Rizzo and Martinez both acknowledged, in the aftermath of the move, the conversation with Robles was an emotional one.

“It was tough. It was really tough,” Martinez said earlier this week. “All I could tell him is I wish him the best and to keep going. He needs to go find himself and he’ll help another team somewhere, and like I said, I just wish him the best. But I have a lot of feelings and emotions for Vic. We’ve been through a lot together.”

Photo by Rob Tringali/MLB Photos via Getty Images

“We don’t win a World Series without him roaming center field and doing the things that he did that year,” the skipper added. “It’s been a tough go for him with injuries. But like I said, I think he’s still a very good player, very valuable.

“He’ll help somebody. If nothing comes around, hopefully he decides to come back here.”

“It was difficult,” Rizzo said on Wednesday. “We went — I’ve know him since he was 16 years old when we signed him, and a lot of good memories that we went through and absolutely no issues on his end or our end, and when people ask me about him I tell them what a good kid he is, and he’s high-energy and he plays with his hair on fire and sometimes that is beneficial to the club and sometimes it hurts them. That’s something that we’ve always tried to curtail. It’s a fine line between trying to curtail your youthful enthusiasm and play under control, and I think that’s a big part of what he still has to learn.”