Washington Nationals news & notes: Nats win 2 of 3 in SEA with 4-1 win over Mariners; Patrick Corbin tosses seven scoreless…

Notes and quotes from the Nationals’ 4-1 win in their series finale with Mariners in T-Mobile Park…

Bounce-Back Corbin:

“He just missed locations, and everything got up in the zone,” Davey Martinez said, after Patrick Corbin was tagged for seven runs in five innings against San Diego’s Padres last Friday night in Petco Park.

Corbin gave up one of two home runs he allowed in the outing on the third pitch he threw, settled in for three scoreless frames, then blew up in the fifth, giving up two singles (one a two-run hit), a pair of walks, an RBI groundout, and then a three-run homer which put the home team up 7-0.

“After the first hit of the game, he settled down,” Martinez added, “throwing the ball down, utilizing both sides of the plate, really pitching in well, and then all of a sudden everything got over the plate, got up a little bit on him, and he gave up a bunch of runs. But he was good for 4 ¹⁄₂ innings there.”

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“I felt really good up to that point,” Corbin said, as quoted by MASN’s Mark Zuckerman, of his work before things fell apart in the fifth.

“They just got a couple guys on, and you make a mistake to pretty much anybody in this lineup, they can hit it out. Just an inning that seemed like it couldn’t end.”

Going up against the Seattle Mariners on Wednesday afternoon in the series finale in T-Mobile Park, the left-hander took the mound with a 3-0 lead, and proceeded to toss five scoreless to start, working around four hits, all singles, and striking out 7 of the 19 batters he faced, while throwing 72 pitches, generating 10 swinging strikes (seven w/ his slider) and getting 10 called strikes (four each on his sinker and four-seamer, and two on his changeup).

A quick, 13-pitch, 1-2-3 home-half of the sixth inning, in which he got two groundouts and a backwards K, left Corbin at 85 pitches overall, and he returned to the mound for the seventh, and worked around a one-out single, picking up his 9th K on pitch No. 102.

Patrick Corbin’s Line: 7.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 9 Ks, 102 P, 68 S,

“Look, you can say whatever you want about Patrick,” Martinez said after the Nationals’ 4-1 win over the Mariners.

“What I know about Patrick is he’s going to take the ball every five days. For me, that’s awesome. And I love him for that.”

Corbin was happy with the outing, talking with reporters about what was working, while still acknowledging the reality of his own (and his club’s) struggles over the last few years.

“I’m not going to get too high after this one, just look at some of the things I did well and try to improve and get ready for my next one,” he said, as quoted by MASN’s Mark Zuckerman.

“Just a good job of using both sides of the plate. Good fastball command. Good slider, I had a really good feel for that today and got a lot of swings (21) and misses (9) on it.

“Defense played great. I was just in a really good rhythm with [catcher Riley Adams]. These ones are fun.”

KEY MOMENTS:

• As highlighted in the Nationals’ pregame notes, going into the series finale in Seattle, WA, Jeimer Candelario led, “National League third basemen (3rd among MLB 3B) in wins above replacement (2.3 [WAR]),” and the third baseman was, “… tied for third with three defensive runs saved [DRS], according to FanGraphs.com.”

Candelario’s, “… 25 doubles [were] the most among National League third basemen and [were] second in the National League overall,” and he, “also rank[ed] first among NL third base and seventh in the NL overall in extra-base hits (37).”

Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images

The 29-year-old, switch-hitting third baseman was on a nice run as well, going 17 for 48 in his previous 12 games, (.354/.404/.646) with eight doubles, two homers, three walks, seven RBIs, nine runs scored, and one stolen base in that stretch, with an extra-base hit in seven of the 12, and in his last 37 (for more fun with small sample sizes), Candelario was 44 for 139 (.317/.399/.590), “with 16 doubles, two triples, six home runs, 23 RBIs, 15 walks, and 25 runs scored,” taking him from a .211/.276/.354 line on the year on May 15th to .262/.336/.469 on the season, heading into the finale in Seattle.

Candelario connected for his 26th double on the year in the top of the first, after both Lane Thomas and Luis García singled off Mariners’ starter Logan Gilbert in front of him, driving both runners in, and an RBI single in the next at-bat, by Keibert Ruiz, drove Candelario in for the third run of the inning, 3-0 in the first.

• Keibert Ruiz, in as the DH today, tried to score from first on a double by Dom Smith (after Ruiz singled to start the sixth), but the relayed throw home beat the relatively slow-footed catcher by a couple steps, and the Mariners’ catcher, Tom Murphy, moved into the baseline to corral it, so Ruiz moved to avoid him, shuffling around the side of the plate to avoid the tag, then reaching back to touch the plate, only to get called out for going out of the basepath by home plate ump Derek Thomas, who tossed the Nats’ skipper, Davey Martinez, during the ensuing on-field argument/one-sided scolding he got from the heated manager. Ildemaro Vargas doubled to drive Smith in in the next at-bat, 4-0.

Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images

BULLPEN ACTION:

Amos Willingham made his MLB debut in the bottom of the eighth, and promptly gave up a home run to left by José Caballero, who hit a 96.3 MPH fastball shoulder high out of the top of the zone a pitch after the rookie starter got squeezed on what should have been a called third strike, 4-1 Nationals. Julio Rodríguez hit a one-out fly to the track in left-center that did look like trouble off the bat, but Willingham got out No. 2 on the fly ball, and No. 3 on a pop-up to short left field. Congrats, Amos.

Baseball Savant:

Hunter Harvey came on for the ninth inning, with a three-run lead, and retired the Mariners in order to end it. Nats take 2 of 3 in Seattle. Next up, Philly in D.C. at 6:05 on Friday…

BACK PAGE – Garcìa On D:

It didn’t result in a double play in the end, but Luis García’s decision to throw home Tuesday night, on a grounder to short (with runners on first and third) on which the Nats got a force at second, was an aggressive one, but a play his manager appreciated.

García made the decision to throw home to the plate, for what was initially ruled an out, but the call was reversed upon review, and the Mariners went up 4-3 before the Nationals won it in extras.

García finished the night ranked 9th in the majors, among qualified second basemen, at -2 DRS (Defensive Runs Saved), with his -1.3 UZR (Ultimate Zone Rating) ranked 11th. His .986 fld% ranked 6th, and his four errors were tied for the third fewest.

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His manager said after the game the 23-year-old has made big strides and put in a lot of work to improve on the defensive side of the game this year.

Davey Martinez said he liked what he saw from García in the Nationals’ extra-innings win over the Mariners.

“He was engaged,” Martinez said. “His pre-pitch was good, he was ready, he was engaged, he made a nice diving stop to get a runner out at first, and then that play, the heads up play by him by trying to throw the ball home right there, was awesome. We just — we didn’t get him by a little, but I told them all, I said, ‘Hey, that was an unbelievable play, keep your heads up and let’s go score some runs.’ But he’s playing better. He’s really, really focused on getting quicker, so he’s doing a lot of agility stuff in the mornings, in the afternoons when he comes in to be ready to be ready to prepare, so I think it’s helping him a lot.”