After a four-game series sweep against the Marlins, the Nationals concluded their southern road trip with three games against the defending World Series champion Texas Rangers at Globe Life Field.
However, despite some solid starting pitching from the Nationals, the Rangers scored more runs when they needed to for wins on Tuesday and Thursday. Washington only put up two runs and 12 hits in this series and still won Wednesday’s game by the score of 1-0.
The Nationals fell to Texas 7-1 on Tuesday and 6-0 on Thursday, bringing their current record to 15-16 as they once again missed another opportunity to get over the .500 hump.
The only two Washington runs came in Tuesday’s loss where Luis Garcia Jr. hit an RBI single to drive in C.J. Abrams the top of the first, and in Wednesday’s victory where Alex Call singled and sent home Ildemaro Vargas.
Over the course of these three games, the Nationals just faced a strong Rangers rotation of Jon Gray, Andrew Heaney, and Nathan Eovaldi, as Gray went eight full innings, struck out three batters and gave up only three hits and that one run for the win on Tuesday, while Heaney pitched seven innings and gave up four hits and the only run of Wednesday’s contest, and Eovaldi went 5.1 innings, finished with eight strikeouts and allowed only two hits for the shutout victory.
But Washington’s core looked pretty solid for the most part as well, as MacKenzie Gore and Mitchell Parker tried their best in Tuesday and Thursday’s contests, while Trevor Williams amazingly pitched the team to a 1-0 shutout victory on Wednesday to improve his record to 3-0 on the season.
What makes Williams’ victory unique is that, according to an OptaSTATS tweet, over the last 50 seasons (since 1975), there have been 21,395 scoreless outings by MLB starters, and only one of those 21,395 did so while facing a bases-loaded, no-out jam in two separate innings.
That pitcher was Williams on Wednesday, as he indeed faced a bases-loaded, no-out jam in two separate innings, the second and fifth innings to be exact, as he went five full innings on 79 pitches and finished with a 2.27 ERA. Kyle Finnegan also recorded his 10th save of the year.
Meanwhile, Gore looked remarkably solid in Tuesday’s loss, where he also went five full innings and struck out seven Rangers batters, with his curveball playing a major part in some of them. But his two earned runs, along with the bullpen’s five combined earned runs allowed, were the difference.
Rookie Mitchell Parker made his fourth start on Thursday afternoon and had five strikeouts in 5.1 innings pitched, but also gave up six hits and three earned runs for his first loss in the MLB.
In the end, this was still a successful weeklong road trip for the Nationals, as they went 5-2 in games against Miami and Texas, showing that they have a lot more to give as the season continues.
Up next, Washington returns home for four consecutive interleague home series, with the first being three games against the Toronto Blue Jays this weekend.
