After a 2-4 start to the 2024 season, The Nats rebounded slightly to finish week two of the season at 3-3 and 5-7 overall. After winning two of three in San Francisco, Washington remained in the Bay Area for a three-game series against the A’s before heading to Los Angeles to face the Dodgers before returning home.
Nats Week in Review (April 11-17)
Game 13 Of The Regular Season, Game One Of The Week
The first game of the series against the A’s turned out to be quite the pitching duel. Nats starter Jake Irvin pitched a solid six and a third innings to keep the Nats in the game after giving up a run early. Heading into the ninth, the Nats trailed 1-0. Then Jesse Winker tied it up with a homer. Unfortunately, the Nats weren’t efficient with their hitting compared to the A’s. Winker had four of the Nats’ eight hits but it ended up not being enough.
In the bottom of the tenth, Oakland managed to scrape a run through to win 2-1 in spite of having just three hits on the day. Kyle Finnegan took the loss in relief.
Game 14 Of The Regular Season, Game Two Of The Week
The second game of the series featured another, you guessed it, pitching duel. Starter MacKenzie Gore was rock solid in five short innings, finishing with an astonishing 11 strikeouts.
Again, the Nats’ bats were pretty quiet but they managed to put three across the plate. Reliever Robert Garcia gave up the lone run against the A’s and this time the frequently used Finnegan was able to pick up the save in a 3-1 Nats victory.
Game 15 Of The Regular Season, Game Three Of The Week
Finally some offense! The Nats scored early and often by putting up runs in each inning from the third through the sixth. Lane Thomas showed signs of breaking out of an early season slump by hitting a homer and collecting three hits.
Starting pitcher Trevor Williams was OK, giving up three runs in 5 1/3 innings. He started the sixth with the Nats holding a commanding 6-1 lead. Then reliever Derek Low entered and things got worse. He ended up surrendering four earned runs in his brief appearance. In all, Oakland pushed across six runs in the bottom of the sixth to take a 7-6 lead. After that basically nothing happened and the A’s held on for the win by the same 7-6 tally. Off to Chavez Ravine for three more to wrap up the West Coast road trip.
Game 16 Of The Regular Season, Game Four Of The Week
This three-game series against the vaunted Dodgers would determine the level of success of the trip. Getting swept would send the Nats limping home with a 6-12 record.
But these Nats came to play. After jumping ahead 1-0 in the first the Dodgers quickly tied it in their half of the frame. The Nats weren’t fazed as they quickly retook the lead. C.J. Abrams continued his hot start with another homer.
Starter Mitchell Parker was solid although he only pitched five innings as Dave’s continued with his strategy of getting his starting pitcher out sooner rather than later. After taking a 6-2 lead into the bottom of the sixth, the bullpen did their job and the Nats started off the series off on the right foot with a 6-4 curly W.
Game 17 Of The Regular Season, Game Five Of The Week
A sweep of the Dodgers would have been surprising and game two proved it wasn’t in the cards. The Dodgers jumped out to a 3-0 after two innings against Nats pitcher Patrick Corbin. This time Martinez let Corbin work through his struggles and he finished 6 1/3 innings but was tagged for five runs on nine hits.
Mookie Betts powered the Dodgers with five hits on the evening. Nats DH Jesse Winker hit another homer bat LA cruised to a 6-2 win to even the series.
Game 18 Of The Regular Season, Game Six Of The Week
In the finale of the series, the two teams played an afternoon get-away game. It turned out to be the most surprising outing of the season for these young Nats.
C.J. Abrams belted a first-inning homer (they might want to pay the man). The Nats pushed across one more in the top of the first to take a 2-0 lead. It held up!
Starting pitcher Jake Irvin was rock solid in a six-inning scoreless outing that saw him scatter just four hits. The bullpen did their job to complete the shutdown of the Dodgers. The final was 2-0. Winning two of three against the Dodgers in LA no doubt added some enjoyment to the flight back to DC.
Observations
The pitching looks better although Patrick Corbin hasn’t looked especially good. The relievers have been better more often than not. C.J. Abrams continues his hot start (see they might want to pay the man). Lane Thomas continues his slow start but at least he got a homer on the trip.
They headed home at 8-10.
Nats Week in Review: Week One
Nats Week in Review: Week Two
Main Image: Robert Edwards-USA TODAY Sports
