Cavalli Whiffs 10 Mets in Rainy Rout

Walters is open until 2 a.m. making it a great spot to watch the NBA playoffs. Walters Sports Bar and Restaurant is located just across the street from Nationals Park. There they go. Here it comes. Swing and a M.S.C. struck them out with a fastball. Challenge to the 97 and blew it by him. It took 30 pitches, but Kate Cavali survives the bottom of the first, keeping the mets off the scoreboard. Now it's swing and a drive. Deep left center field. This is way back and this ball is caught. Goodbye. A grand slam for Brady House. His first to the big leagues, his fourth home run of the year. And the Nationals have cleaned it all up here on the top of the fourth inning. And it's now the Nationals nine and the Mets won. Cavali Rocks kicks delivers. Swing and a M.S.C. struck him out with a change up. That is strikeout number 10 for Kate Cavali. Matching his career high second start in a row. He has reached double digits in strikeout. I'm super excited to be able to put the team in position. The offense raked tonight. That was fun to watch and I just gave me some freedom to go attack the zone. So a lot of fun. And welcome to Nationals. I'm Al Goldie. Host of the Al Goldie podcast. I'm joined by Washington Nationals insider Mark Sukerman of National dot com. He's at City Field with the Nats just got a dominant win a 14 to win at the New York Mets on Wednesday night in game two of a three game series a game in which we had rain for much of the game, but never had a rain delay. This was a game in which the Nats scored seven runs in the top of the fourth. And that was off the Nats in their eight nothing loss at the Mets on Tuesday night allowing seven runs in the bottom of the fourth. The Nats in M.O.B.s 2026 regular season now are 14 and 17 11 and seven on the road versus three and 10 at home. The Mets now are an M.O.B. worst 10 and 20 this installment of Nats chat brought to us by window nations. The more you buy the more you save self is at window nation dot com to book a consultation and make sure that you tell window nation that the Nats chat podcast sent you coming up later on the show and update on the Nats triple a affiliate. The Rochester Redwings from the voice of the Redwings Josh Wetzel including Intel on outfield or Dilling crews. So the Nats over their previous five games had totaled a mere 14 runs. We mentioned that on the last installment of the podcast the Nats on Wednesday night scored 14 runs. The Nats in this game excellent offensively 14 runs 15 hits which were two home runs four doubles and nine single six walks seven for 17 with runners in scoring position did strike out 15 times but you know what strikeouts don't matter so much when you hit like the Nats hit in this game but mark is it wrong to say that the biggest bright spot for the Nats in this game was their starting pitcher Kate Cavali who was good for a second consecutive outing two runs in six innings 10 strike outs became the first Nats pitcher to generate at least 10 strikeouts in each of at least two consecutive regular season outing since Mac Sherser in July 2020 not since mad Max have we seen what Kate Cavali just did he had been struggling but he over his last two outings has been really good. I agree with you. I think Kate Cavali's the story of the game even though the national scored 14 runs we can get to all the offense and there's a lot of good stuff to talk about there but I think it's more important what Kate Cavali did here because to back up what he did in that last start against the braves and essentially duplicate that in this outing I think is a huge step forward for him I actually asked Blake butara before the game at what point can you look at Kate and say okay this is now a legitimate thing he's on a roll now this is who he can be and he kind of spouted and says well he's got to do it for more than a couple of times he's got to sustain that you know for several outings in a row if not even for a month so to see him go out and do that in this game it's a great step in the right direction he did that in spite of the fact that he threw 30 pitches in the first inning had to get out of a bases loaded jam he's still found a way to go six innings keep it under a hundred to the ten strikeouts like you said and here's my favorite stat of the night from him the last 24 pitches he threw were strikes I did not know that that's great to hear you know that means I'm in the zone attacking now maybe there are times that you don't necessarily want that you say that you're finding too much of the plate but when you've got a double digit lead that's exactly what you want he knew the situation he was going right after them and he was actually executing them to not just you know throw strikes but to throw quality strikes and get out this was a really important start I think for Kate Cavali so Cavali in his previous outing the net seven two loss to the Atlanta Braves at Nationals Park last Thursday afternoon April 23rd two runs five innings ten strikeouts no walks and now we have what he did on Wednesday night again two runs six innings ten strikeouts he gave up eight hits which were a home run a double and six singles issued two walks into wild pitch he put some guys on base but like Mark said Cavali pounded the zone 97 pitches 69 strikes just 28 goals and 30 of the 97 pitches came in that first inning final five innings just 67 pitches it's so funny how this game played out the final of the first was like that typical laborious sky high pitch inning from Cavali that has driven us nuts so many times over his starts at the major league level I mean he gave up a double he issued two walks 30 pitches you say oh good lord like what are we going to get from Cavali in this game but he ended up being so much better and so much more pitch efficient as the game went on the two runs that he allowed bottom of the third give up a run give up a one out first pitch office that feels solo Homer by our good friend one so to left center to cut the that's lead to two one bottom of the fifth of the letter run on three consecutive singles to begin that half inning but bottom line two runs six innings ten strikeouts you look at Cavali now in this regular season seven games all starts ERA a 3.82 whip of 1.66 he is lucky to have an ERA under four with a whip that high and when we talk about you know like where is Cavali at in his development he's got to stop putting so many guys on base but you know it also is high his strikeouts per nine innings 11.15 30 H strikeouts in 30 and two thirds innings you've said that Cavali is the best stuff of any nuts pitcher since Steven Strasberg in terms of guys who this team has brought up from the minors and we are seeing that stuff play out in fine fashion here 11.15 strikeouts per nine innings now yeah exactly and I think what you're seeing from him is he's not necessarily going out there trying to strike hitters out there's a few situations he mentioned that one in the first inning as the base is loaded he wants to get out of it okay I could really use a strike out here but otherwise it's kind of a natural occurrence from being ahead in the count having the good stuff and the ability to throw whatever he wants in any count and that leads to all the swings and misses so I don't think he's going out there saying I'm trying to strike out 10 guys tonight I think it is the end result of all the other good things that he is doing he has that ability like we said I know Mackenzie Gore was a high strikeout pitcher but I think Cavali's arsenal is a little more impressive he maintained his velocity in this one was still 97 I think maybe even 98 there towards the end of his start so I think that was you know really good for him I mentioned bouncing back from that first inning we've seen this from him where he has that long inning and that kind of builds on itself and you see more of those and the next thing you know he can't get out and say the fourth with the pitch count too high and what he did in this one that was different is he comes right back with 10 pitches in a 1 2 3 bottom of the second and then included back to back strikeouts so a 10 pitch inning with two strikeouts is about as good as it gets and that kind of reset the whole outing for him where now he was out in front obviously the team was playing with the lead for a lot of that time and just allowed him to go out and attack them and get quickouts yes some base runners but I think they can live with that again he needs to do this over a longer stretch before he make any real declarations but after having some concerns there maybe a couple of weeks ago as well as Kekavali really who he's supposed to be or not what we've seen these last two starts is who Kekavali is supposed to be what do you think is key for him lessening how many guys he is putting on base because you could look at this and say it's not sustainable to keep having an ERA under 4 with a whip as high as it is what do you think he needs to do to get that whip to be lower I think it's quality strikes he's always been a strike throw I know there were a few starts earlier in the year that he the walk count was high and you know strike the ball ratio wasn't so good and he knew that's not who he is he's always been a strike thrower so then I think that next step and what you saw I think for the most part in these last two starts is it's not just about throwing strikes but then throwing quality strikes and I think that's where he can now maybe take the next step if you will and I think if you're the nationals and if you're Kekavali he'd much rather him give up hits than walks and I think he's been a lot better at that and now once he maybe gets over the walk issue you start focusing on really pinpoint command and not giving up the hits he may you know be a guy that he may not be Mac Shurser in that when he's on he's just completely overwhelming that his fastball is kind of hit a ball it doesn't move a lot it's kind of flat I think that's probably one of the reasons that he gives up the hits that he does but when he gets ahead in the count. Any avoids? contact at least early in the count, then he can go to the curve ball, change up the other stuff that he throws and that leads to the strikeout. So let's remind ourselves and Blake Buchair keeps saying it. He's only made what 16, 17 starts in the major leagues at this point. He's very much an unfinished product. I know he's older. I know he's been around for a while. We've been talking about him for years now, but he is still learning how to pitch at the big league level. And so I think you take the good things that he's doing and absolutely run with that and believe that he can continue to grow and start to do this kind of thing more regularly and maybe don't worry as much about the negative blips on even in these quality starts. And how about net starting pitching lately for the last six games. Good starting pitching. I mentioned the two outings for Kid Cavali. Don't forget Jay Gervin six three 10 inning win at the Chicago White Sox's past Saturday five and two third scoreless innings nine strikeouts. No walks, foster Griffin to 110 inning win at the White Sox's past Sunday afternoon seven scoreless innings eight strikeouts. Also for the Nats in terms of pitching in this win at the Metz on Wednesday night. Good relief pitching three Nats relievers combined for three shut out innings. You know, Perez a perfect bottom of the seventh Paxton Schultz scoreless bottom of the eighth despite giving up back to back one out singles PJ Poole in a perfect bottom of the ninth. Any surprise that Blake Buchair used three different relievers in a blowout win like this or did these guys just need the work. Probably needed the work. Yeah, I was the only one I was really surprised that was pooling. I thought maybe he goes with Schultz for two innings because we're thinking perhaps pooling could open for Miles Michaelis in the series finale on Thursday. But you know, when I asked Buchair the previous day about did he consider using an opener for Zacholetel? He said not really and he he cited the Metz lineup being a little more balanced than a lot of teams are. Yes, Soto is the big lefty hitter, but they've got other good right handed hitters and switch hitters. It's not as heavy with lefties at the top. And so I think he felt like using a lefty opener didn't necessarily match up the proper way with this particular Metz lineup. So maybe that's one reason why he went ahead and used pool and in Wednesday's game the night. Dining which you never know because they always seem to change their mind the last minute, but it sure feels like at this point that Miles Michaelis is going to be on the mound for the bottom of the first inning on Thursday. Yeah, we'll see. I mean, it's only been PJ pool and used as an opener by the Nats. You wonder if there's another reliever who Blake butera and Paul Taboni have in mind to serve as opener or maybe just maybe Miles Michaelis a starting pitcher actually makes the start in this latest outing coming up for him on Thursday afternoon. Algoldi here to tell you about window nations. The more you buy the more you save sale, but before that, the window nation look into the future. Line drive left side base it to left field. Thomas rounds 30s heading to the plate. He'll score standing up without a throw as Seever King delivers a two out RBI single and Harrisburg. Well, happy spring. Window Nation is ready for spring and window nation wants Nats chat podcast listeners to know that there's no better time to upgrade your home with great window nation windows. Then right now as window nation is offering to Nats chat podcast listeners. The more you buy the more you save sale save up to 50% get your windows with 0% interest for five years during uncertain times. One of the best investments that you can make is investing in your home. So visit window nation.com now to book a consultation and tell window nation that Algoldi sent you that's window nation.com and tell window nation that Algoldi sent you. It just hit in the air to deep left center field for me. Way back goes the left fielder slater to the warning track at the wall looking up and it's gone. It just clears the 370 mark a home run for Curtis mead. That's his fourth of the season and his fourth hit of the night. The nationals add the extra point. It's 14 to two. So the Nats offense in this game was terrific. The Nats rip them that starting pitcher David Peterson. He officially allowed seven runs in three and two thirds innings Brady House hit a grand slam. He is an at starting third baseman and number three batter one for five with a grand slam and a walk in the Nats seven run fourth had a two out grand slam to left center to put the Nats up nine one James would he is an at starting D. H. and number one batter two for five with a two run double a single and the bases loaded walk the bases loaded walk came in the seven run fourth would was down in the count. Oh two ended up working a two out bases loaded walk to put the Nats up for one and then would in the Nats three runs seven that went out to run double to the right center field gap to give the Nats a 12 to lead C. J Abrams he is an at starting shortstop and number four batter three for four to RBI singles another single and a walk Curtis mead got on base five times he is the Nats starting first baseman and number two batter four for five with a solo homer a double two singles and a bases loaded hit by pitch you never know with these Nats lineups with the new process who the number two batter will be but it seems like so often this season so far whoever the number two batter has been has come through Curtis mead coming through in this game continues to come through in his limited playing opportunities here so far but with the Brady House grand slam you know it has been a rough last few weeks for house he was doing so well his numbers have come tumbling down to where they now are not good like if you just look at his bottom line slash line he's not having a good season so to see him hit that grand slam that was very nice to see he needed that one there was a point I think after the first at bats by both of these guys in this game Jacob Young actually had a higher OPS for the season than Brady House by one point that tells you how far Brady has fallen since that excellent start and then I wrote a nice article about him and his whole new approach and played this plane and he completely fell apart after that so you're sorry I'll take the L on that one what he had been doing I think a lot is he was taking a lot of strikes over the plate some swinging at pitches out of the zone but it felt like he was almost too patient and taking good pitches over the plate well in that at bat he's got bases loaded it's an O1 pitch and it was over the plate he absolutely destroyed it and so good for him for recognizing it and then doing damage to it it's only the second grand slam of his professional career he hit one very early on when he was still in I think West Palm Beach after getting drafted so before he even made it to affiliated ball after that so this is his first one certainly at the big league level he he needed it felt good and what that did was it really put the definitive stamp on this game they were putting the pressure on David Peterson throughout they didn't fully convert uh Peterson was out of the game at that point and some maniacs come in that one big swing from him I think kind of solidified it and made sure that this was going to be a laffer of a game instead of one of those who say well they're having a good night but boy they're leaving a lot of runners out there they could have done a lot more David Peterson had owned this team last year he threw 17nings against them gave up one run and this game they scored seven runs off him I know he's been struggling so maybe that's part of it but it's nice to see the nationals lineup including a good number of hitters who have seen him before have a lot more success this time around against David Peterson than they did previously I had to laugh at this I was looking at this so there are multiple outlets from which you can get m.o.b payroll information I think probably the best one is caught spaceball contracts which is affiliated with baseball prospectus so if you go by the data on caught spaceball contracts the nets and mets have the following projected year-end 40 man payrolls nets 95.1 million dollars mets 362.6 million dollars and yet we not only have the nets with a better record than the mets we have the nets number two in m.o.b and runs at 170 we have the mets number 29 at a 30 m.o.b teams in runs 102 and I'm not sure what's more shocking that the nets offense is this good or that the mets offense is this bad because if you're really breaking down why are the mets so bad so far a lot of it is the offense the mets pitching actually hasn't been that bad certainly wasn't good on Wednesday night but overall hasn't been that bad the offense has been really bad and contrasting that is this net's offense which just has been awesome I agree with you I'm not sure which of those is more shocking I think the other question that is which of those is more likely to be sustainable the rest of the year I don't feel like either one is likely to finish in that same position but I think there's maybe a better chance of the net finish you know top five in the majors and runs scored then there is of the mets finishing in the bottom five I find it hard to believe that that could continue now they've dealt with some injuries so do was hurt for a while lind doors out right now they're also really missing a guy named pitalanzo who I think a lot of people around here wish they had gone above and beyond to try to keep instead of letting him go to Baltimore both on the field and in the clubhouse I think that loss has been very significant for them as well as Brandon Nemo a guy who had been such a a key stalwart for them for several years now I still believe that this mets team is going to go on a run at some point just because it's the mets way I I everyone around here is ready to call the season off they're ready to fire Carlos Mendoza maybe it'll happen I just have a hard time believing that their season could be over before May 1st I'm not saying they're going to come all the way back and make it to the playoffs or anything like that but just the way the mets usually operate they're going to go on one of these runs where they win 13 out of 15 and everybody's excited again and everything's going to be great. And then they collapse for good later on down the road. That's my prediction how this year is going to play out here in flushing. That is a lot of times how things do go for the match. You know, it's funny. Peter Lanzo is not doing especially well with the Baltimore Orioles at least so far, though that clearly could change. And you know, with the Nimo thing, there are all kinds of reports and rumors about why Brandon Nimo is no longer with the Mets. And if you don't know what I'm talking about, Google Brandon Nimo, Francisco Lendor and see what comes up and that's all I have to say about that. But yeah, the Mets are not in a good place at all. And you know, this Nats Offense movie said it right last five games prior to Wednesday night. Just 14 runs is the carriage turning back into a pumpkin. Well, Wednesday night, you know, right back to where things had been prior to that five game stretch. And I just think this is going to be so interesting. Like does this offense continue to be so good or at least you know, above average? Like I don't think we're expecting it to be top five throughout the year. But can the Nats finish in the upper half of M.O.B. In terms of runs, in terms of team OPS, however you want to quantify offense, like how realistic is that? I don't know. It's a great question. I think the reasons that you could say maybe it could be is that they do this a lot of times on nights when it's not just like James Wood and C.J. Abrams. But if you get Brady House producing, if you get Curtis Meade producing, and you know, Dalylin Lyle has kind of been quiet. He got a little bit of a run there, but he hasn't done a whole lot since then. Look at the lineup they filled it for this game. Wood Meade House Abrams Young Lyle Weemer Nunez Ruiz. There are some weak links in that lineup and they still put up 14 runs. So I do think there's a whole lot of potential there. Because they're able to score runs even when not everybody's doing a lot for them. Of course, Wood and Abrams are kind of key to it all, but it doesn't just have to be them. So I want to believe that this can be a, yeah, like you said, like at least an average, if not above average lineup when it's all said and done. We don't know who else may be coming along the way to help them out, but they've done this with virtually no production from their catchers. They're not getting a whole lot out of second base in Nunez. Not getting a whole lot out of center field from Jacob Young. That's pretty amazing if they've done that with those kind of weak links still in this lineup. And if the starting pitching is starting to come around at least somewhat, Kavali better, lately, Jay Gurvin has shown some signs of being better. Foster Griffin has been the best pitcher on the staff so far. You know, look, Miles Michael is Zach Latel. You hold your breath. But I mean, if you believe that there is something still there and at least Latel to where he'll be better, I think there's some hope even with the pitching. Now, I don't know that the pitching ever becomes a true strength. But again, it doesn't have to be great. It just can't be as bad as it has been so far. Can it just be better? Can it be, you know, passable? Can it be decent? And at least lately, the starting pitching has been better than decent. The starting pitching has been good lately. Yeah, I think those three guys, that's Keith Griffin looks like this is who he can be now. Kavali, obviously the last two starts really stand out as like frontline big league starter. Irvin has been quietly encouraging the last several times out. He's the two veterans and I think we both know that they're not part of the long term plan. So I think really the questions there are either number one. Can they turn it around come at least one of them turned around enough to like give them a chance. And that's probably Latel more likely than Michael is, but then number two is how far does your organization take both those guys before they're willing to make a change? We talked to Blake, you tear a pregame again about Latel and kind of having had a full night to think about it and go over things about him. You know, what are his thoughts? And does he think there's a need to make any kind of changes there? And he was pretty adamant that Latel is not leaving the rotation that this is not a case that they think they need to do that. They understand it's not as simple as him having signed late, but they also want to look at what he's done over the last two or three years and give that some weight over what he's done for five starts here. So there is some more rope for him. It's not going to be unlimited, but there is rope for him. And Michael is this case, as we've seen, they've gone out of their way to try to minimize what he does. So I think that's the one that they're less wedded to. But if you were thinking that maybe the Latel start the other night might like signal it a change in direction for them, it does not appear that's in the cards at least any time soon. Game three for the Nats at the Metz Thursday afternoon at one 10 miles, Michael is will be the Nats starting pitcher. This installment of Nats Chat brought to us by window nations. The more you buy the more you save sale visit window nation dot com to book a consultation on nationals radio highlights on that chat or courtesy of one of six seven the fan for Mark's or command of our goal. We thank you for listening. We'll talk to you next time on the Nats chat podcast and right now we leave you with a special treat and update on the Nats triple a affiliate, the Rochester Redwings from the voice of the Redwings Josh Wetzel. One O pitch. Cruz slices one into right Campbell comes racing in that drops fair a base hit and then it skips by him and rolls into the corner. Franklin being waved around third by Mario LaSona, the throw to the plate instead will be relayed to third, but it's laid on Cruz. 10 one Redwings is Cruz plop one down the right field line that then rolled by Campbell and got into the corner. Time for a Rochester Redwings update in as of right now the Redwings have a 14. 14 record on the season. Alphular Dylan Cruz went to for four on Tuesday with a triple that comes after he went one for 23 in his previous series at Scrant Wokesbury for the season. Cruz is hitting 234 with a 342 on base percentage three doubles and two home runs for Dylan Cruz. The hottest hitter for the Redwings has been yo yo Morales who's been pretty much splitting time between third base and first base over his last 14 games. He's hitting 440 with three doubles and three home runs for the season. He's batting 333 that's just outside the top 10 in the international league. He leads the team with four home runs and also a 916 OPS. Alphular Andrew Pigny has also been hot of late over his last 13 games. He's hitting 354 with four doubles and triple in a home run for the season. Pigny's batting 284 with a 361 on base percentage and an OPS of almost 850. Christian Franklin, another Alphular continues to get on base at a good clip. He leads the team with 19 walks and is on base percentage of an even at 400 ranked second on the team behind yo yo Morales. Catcher Harry Ford, who was traded from the Mariners for Jose a Ferrer continues to struggle at the plate. He's hitting 189 at the moment with no home runs yet. On the pitching side of things, Andre Laura turned in a phenomenal start last week in Scrant Wokesbury against a very good hitting team. He went seven innings on Friday night, allowed no runs, on two hits, didn't walk anybody, and struck out nine while throwing only 81 pitches. And by virtue of that tremendous start, Laura was named the international league pitcher of the week. And Luis Perales, who was acquired from the Red Sox in the offseason in exchange for prospect Jake Bennett. His own three right now with a 4.91 ERA. He's made five starts, though he's only pitched 14 and two thirds innings so far. He throws hard as fastball his average just under 99 miles an hour. And he has thrown 12 pitches already this season at an even 100 miles an hour or harder. This is Josh Wetzel with this Rochester Red Wings update. Toot to pitch. Pick me swings. It's a line drive shallow center falling quickly. Or kick it. There are loops down in front of them. Two runs will come in. The throw to third is not in time. Adam slides in safely. And the Wings take a 2 to nothing lead on the player, RBI's single end to center from Andrew Pickney.