The Good, The Bad and The Ugly From the Nationals Latest Road Trip
In this story:
The Washington Nationals just went on a road trip to San Francisco to face the Giants and then to Kansas City to play the Royals before returning to D.C. The Nats are returning home with a 3-3 record as they prepare to face the Philadelphia Phillies.
The Nationals fare better on the road this year, something only a handful of MLB teams can say. Their backs were against the wall in both series, but the Nationals came through to some extent with a series win in San Francisco and a .500 record.
It started off in California where Washington took the series 2-1, but it had a little less luck in Kansas City. The roles were flipped, but the team played hard to avoid a sweep by the Royals.
The Good
There has been plenty of negative attention going around about the Nationals season which makes it increasingly important to highlight when things are going right and that happened in San Francisco. The club started off by losing game one in a shutout. But they performed better with a little pressure on them. Not only did Washington win two straight games, but it had an 8-0 shutout in the final game.
The Nationals' pitching staff has struggled this year, but MacKenzie Gore came through in that final game with San Francisco, which pitted him against future Hall-of-Famer Justin Verlander. After six innings of work he struck out 10 without allowing a run and gave up just three hits.
Gore wasn't the only one who came through. In the final game against the Royals there was explosive offense, including a grand slam from Nathaniel Lowe and another homer from C.J. Abrams. With a tie score at the top of the ninth, Daylen Lile hit a single to bring Luis García Jr. across home plate and avoid the sweep.
The Bad AND The Ugly
Pitching, pitching and pitching.
This has been the root of this team's problems all year and it was a significant drag on the series with Kansas City. The staff allowed nine runs in three games against the Giants, including one shutout.
In each of the three games in the Royals series the pitching staff allowed seven or more runs. The reason Washington was able to avoid the sweep was thanks to the offensive production.
The Nationals traded pitching at the deadline, including Michael Soroka and Kyle Finnegan, and other pitchers have been asked to step up.
Game 1 starter Cade Cavalli allowed four of the seven Royals runs in five innings, along with three strikeouts and three walks. The other starters struggled. Game 2 starter Mitchell Parker pitched into the sixth inning but allowed five runs. In Game 3, starter Jake Irvin gave up six earned runs in four innings.
The Nationals have few answers to the questions that linger in the starting rotation so, for now, low scoring games may be hard to come by as they prepare for the Phillies.
More Nationals News
Maddy Dickens resides in Loveland, Colorado. She grew up with two older brothers, where their lives revolved around sports. She earned a master's degree in business management from Tarleton State University while simultaneously playing basketball and competing in rodeo at the collegiate level. She successfully parlayed a reserve national championship into a professional rodeo career and now stays involved in upper-level athletics by writing for On SI on several different MLB teams' pages, along with some NCAA sites.