Walters is a great place to watch the NBA finals with friends to open late and located right across the street from National Park Next offering swung on and hit in the air deep right field carol on the run of the warning track way back into the corner And it is gone goodbye a two-run home run for Louise Garcia Jr Bang zoom goes Garcia Basis loaded the set and the one two swing a high drive right center field deep Borosa going back to the warning track looking up and it is gone It's a grand slam into the basket and right center field Nationals lead in 11 to one as Garcia brings them all in with a grand slam his second home run of the night He's driven in six runs What a night for Louise Garcia Jr Zua over in the first a towering grand slam to right center here in the sixth And the nationals have a double digit lead. It's 11 to one Pitch Swing a long drive right field Carol going back this one over his head and over the wall Another home run for the nationals a line drive smash for Abrams to straight away right field The nationals have a dozen on the board. It's 12 to one Nationals have five home runs in the first six innings of this ballgame And welcome to natchchat a melgaldi hosted the algaldi podcast I'm joined by washington nationals inside our mark zooker mid of natch journal dot com He is at chase field in phoenix, Arizona chase field per baseball sivan is number two in M.O.B. in highest park factor over The last three regular seasons 2024 through 2026 number one of courses the colorado rockies course field it's number one by a mile Nationals park believe it or not is tied for number six, but chase field is number two chase field is a big time hitters park And the nats late night on friday night hit big time a 14-1 win at the Arizona diamond backs late night on friday night in game one of a three game series and game one of a six game trip out west The nats are back at 500 in this regular season 32 and 32 and are back to having a positive run differential plus three But the 32 and 32 is made up of 2012 on the road versus 12 and 20 at home the diamond backs now are 33 and 30 including 20 and 13 at home This series is a battle of a team in the nats that has been great on the road versus a team in the diamond backs That has been graded home in the nats late night on friday night routed the diamond backs at chase field coming up later in the show An update on the nats triple a affiliate the Rochester red wings from the voice of the red wings Wetzel of the red wings just had an excellent May thanks in large part to two key prospects for the nats third basements last first baseman Johan de Morales and first baseman of beamleck or tees So the nats in getting swept by the Miami marlins in three games at nats at os park over this past Monday through Wednesday totaled a mere Seven runs, but the nats late night on friday night 14 runs mark quite the response from the nats to getting swept by the marlins And there's no better place to do that to how then chase field as you just described And specifically for the nationals this has been a great place to hit remember last year when they scored 10 runs in the first inning A record setting performance well You can go even further back than that It's now six of their last nine games they've played here. This is over the course of that three seasons They've scored at least seven runs in six of those nine games They have always hit well here and certainly this lineup in this ballpark felt like a good opportunity for them to get back on track and boy They from right from the jump They looked like the best offense in baseball once again And so I think that was important psychologically to get over that hurdle of what happened in the last series against the marlins and Remind everybody that oh yes this team does score a lot of runs and this was a great place to do it And the offense was spread out over the course of this game two runs top of the first four runs top of the third run Top of the fifth five runs top of the six a run in the top of the eighth and they run in the top of the ninth The nats for the game 14 runs 16 hits which were five home runs a double and ten single seven walks six for 14 with runners in scoring position We've talked about the nats doing well against good pitching So the diamond back starting pitcher was Merrill Kelly. He overall is not having a very good season But he had been pitching well lately and he already at 2.36 Over his last five games all starts coming into this game But the nats in this game against Kelly had him allowing seven runs in five innings and so many nats did so well in this game But leading the way was Luis Garcia Jr Who has an ad starting first baseman and number two batter hit two home runs and had six RBI He went two for six with a grand slam and a two run homer Garcia and the nats to run first a two run homer to right field For a two-dumping nats lead Garcia in the nats five run six a grand slam to right center field on a one two pitch Four and eleven one nats lead the homer going a projected 427 feet per stat cast Luis Garcia Jr does just enough to keep you interested and just enough to make it think that this guy very much can be a piece And you know he's up and down for sure But you look at his overall body at work now his OPS is at 745 That's made up of a 454 slugging percentage just a 2.91 on base I mean he's not drawing walks it's not really getting on base at a high rate at all But he is hitting and boy did he hit in this game? We have seen him hit for power before and the power was on full display late night on Friday night It was in that first homer really set the tone They're already up to nothing two batters in and had Merrill Kelly on his heels But I want to talk about the grand slam because That one came off a left-hander and came off a breaking ball from a left-hander That's not a scenario we're used to seeing from Luis Garcia It's only his sixth career homerun off a lefty think it's 59 that he's hit against righties We know that Blake butera plays the matchups a lot if there's a lefty starter in the game It's going to be Andres Chappar or sometimes Curtis meat at first base and often as we saw in this game If it's a close tight game He's got Garcia in there to start against the righty Kelly But very often he would pinch hit for him halfway through this game If the dimebacks bringing the lefty because they had a little bit of a lead a nice little cushion there He left him in let him face the left-hander reliever abner And he got a breaking ball as you just described it just a no doubt for his first career Grand slam and a career high six RBI I think that was important psychologically for Garcia to see that he could do that to a lefty And maybe that helps encourage Blake butera to say okay, maybe this doesn't have to be a full-on platoon where he never is going to face the lefty Yes, a close game latent it Lefty reliever on the mountain you're going to probably want to bring Chappar or somebody off the bench to face him But you now have this in the back of your mind that if it's a little more lopsided Or if you might think maybe there's a lefty in the middle of the game But they might come back to a righty later on you can feel a little more confident letting Luis Garcia face that lefty Seeing what he did in this at bat that to me was a really important sign for him Well his OPS for this regular season is higher against lefties than against righties Which I'm guessing surprises people but 869 against lefties 728 against righties. He's slugging 565 against lefties So we're seeing him make improvement in that department and you know, we've talked about how okay Garcia does he have the bat to be in every day first basement? Well in this game He sure did it to home runs and six or be I Where do you think this team is at with Garcia overall like do you think the team views him as a piece? Do you think it's more he's just sort of a stopgap measure but long term? He's not really the guy they're looking to have as an everyday guy at first base I think they probably feel like two three years down the road They have a better option there, but I will say this and I felt this way really from the moment that Paul Taboni and Blake Beterra were hired and just listening to the way they talked about things I don't think they necessarily view first base as a position where you have to have a big 40-homer guy who plays every day I think they're very comfortable with the idea of running a platoon at that position and going lefty righty matchups It's the way Tampa Bay has done it for a long time The big lefty sluggier at first base is a little bit of a thing in the past There aren't that many of them anymore around baseball I mean lord knows they've been looking for one here for a while and Made a few overtures to some big names or gave some guys on the back ends of their careers Very minimal one-year deals and it usually hasn't worked out. I think there's a case being made for going with that lefty righty combo and Not just game to game but within a game Subbing a guy out when you get to their bullpen. I think they're okay with that But in Garcia's case for him to really stick long term I think they would need to see better plate discipline from him You know that on base percentage has got to at least start with a three not a two And they want to see defensive improvement and it's been all right at times But let's be clear he's not a defensively gifted for space So I think in their perfect world a few years down the road they have somebody that's better than him But they're okay with what he is right now, especially as part of a platoon and even in the long run I don't know that they necessarily think to themselves boy. We need to go find our long term Every day first-baseman who's gonna hit a ton of home runs and be a huge part of the offense and later in the show We'll be hearing about two first-base prospects
of with an answer as mentioned from Josh Wetzoll as we hear about Johan D. Morales and Abimelek Ortiz. Here's the one two. So in a long drive left center field way back goes the center field of Barrosa to the wall he leaves he can't get it. It is gone. Right to the left of the 413 mark. A tape measure home run for James Wood the opposite field. James Wood was three diamondbacks nothing. Number 17 for Wood. He took a fastball up and out of the zone and crushed it to left center field. What a blast by James Wood. James Wood homer he was an at starting right fielder and number one batter two for four solo homer single and a walk wood in the nats four run third lead off opposite field home run to left center on a one two pitch. For a three nothing that's lead that home or when a projected 419 feet per stat cast C.J. Abrams homer. Abrams got on base four times. He was an at starting shortstop and clean up batter two for four solo homer single two walks did commit a fielding year but Abrams in the nats five run six the one out solo homer to right field to put the nats up 12 one day. Lin Lyle that's not someone we've talked about much lately. He's got a cool off but Lyle in this game as an at starting left fielder and number five batter three for four solo homer RBI single another single also had a stolen base. In the nats four run third one at RBI single to right center for a four nothing that's lead also had to steal a second base Lyle in the nats one run fifth a one out solo homer to right field for a seven one nats lead but maybe the biggest sign of all that this was a great offensive night for the nats. George beat be boss who came into the game. Oh for 26 with runners in scoring position went to for two with runners in scoring position. He is the nats starting third baseman and number six batter two for five with a two run double and RBI single and a walk be boss in the nats four run third a one out to run double to right field for a six nothing nats lead when be boss is going to for two with runners in scoring position. You know that your team is having a good offensive night. Yeah, if it wasn't going to happen in this game, it was never going to happen right for him. Look, that was a big moment for him. Lyle relief of course to to finally come through and it wasn't you know just some like meaningless hit. That was a two run double when the game was still close early on. That's a big spot for him. Now the second one came late in the blood and off a position player. So I don't know how much that one really counts. But at this point, George beat be boss will take whatever he can get. He also made a really nice play in the field at third base. So I know as often happens when the lineups come out and people see, you know, why isn't Curtis me at third base, what is Dorit be boss doing there? Well, Blake be tear really wanted as many lefties as possible and his lineup against Merrill Kelly made sense and it worked out. And in be boss's case, he really did deliver for them in a way that we have not seen from him that much, both at the plate and in the field. So a really good feel good night for a guy who needed one. Absolutely. What about Lyle? What have you seen from him lately? Like I said, he is cooled off a bit. His OPS now is at 725, really good game in this game. But you know, not a name that has come up much on recent installments of this podcast. He's just been really streaky. I think remember this series in Cincinnati when he just went off in front of all his friends and family who are there from Louisville. And since then, he is cooled off pretty dramatically. So it was nice to see him kind of get back on track in this one and hitting the ball hard as we know he can do. I'm being a big part of it. And he's batting in prominent spots in the lineup still hitting behind CJ Abrams who as we know is on base a ton. So there have been no shortage of opportunities for Dailin Lyle. I think he kind of needed one of these. He's been fine this year, but this has not been anything close to what we saw from him in the second half of last season. And that's not to say he's not still going to be a really good and really important player for them in the long run. But I think we do have to pump the brakes a little bit and say that what we saw for three months last year might be a bit beyond what can reasonably be expected from him. But let's see, it's up to him now to show if he can rediscover that form and be the impact player that he was when he was up here last year as a rookie. Yeah, I mean, if he can be a guy with an OPS in the mid 700, that's pretty good. Like I said, it's now at 725 woods OPS is at 944 Abrams is at 922. And you know, the Nats off looking feeble offensively against Miami, just looking so good offensively in this game. And you know, here we are. The Nats through 64 games number one in M O B and runs at 345. The Nats rank tied for number five in M O B and home runs at 83. And the Nats rank number four in M O B and T Mo PS at 743. So you know, I think everyone wonders if a market correction is coming. Everyone wonders if a regression is coming. You see what happened against the Marlins and you say, all right, well, maybe it's this the start of the, you know, carriage turning back into a pumpkin and then bam. The Nats bust out on Friday night with a reminder of just how good this offense has been. And I think that's why this was an important one. Even if they'd won the game, but you know, it was a low scoring game, you might have some of those doubts creeping in a little bit for them to come right out from the first inning on and have that kind of big night offensively. I think that completely erases what happened in Miami. Now, obviously you want to keep this thing going, but I do think it was important for them to like just reestablish that here in the opener of this series and say that the anomaly isn't the fact that they lead the majors and run scored for the season. The anomalies that they only scored seven runs against Miami the last three games. And the home run was back and full effect. That's the key to this offense, man. The home runs are up by so much if the Nats continued to hit homeers. The offense is going to continue to be just fine and five home runs quite nice in this win at Arizona late night on Friday night. The Nats starting pitcher in this 14-1 win at the Diamondbacks late night on Friday night was foster Griffin. He pitched really well, but got pulled from the game due to what Nats manager Blake Butera during his post game session with reporters early Saturday morning called back tightness. Yeah, a little bit of both a blowout game. He had a little bit of back tightness just kind of sitting around long inning there. He wanted to go back and pitch again, but I was like, what the score the way it is, the job he's already done just felt like that was right time to get out. Griffin allowed one run in five innings, four strikeouts, no walks, gave up just two hits, which were a home run and a single. He was supremely pitch efficient. He threw a lot of strikes 62 pitches. That was it over five innings, 43 strikes just 19 balls. The run he gave up came in the bottom of the third gave up a one out solo home or by Aremis Garcia to left center to cut the Nats lead to six one. If ever there was an outing by a Nats starting pitcher this season set up for the starter to go deep. It was this game. That's a big Griffin being pitch efficient. He gets pulled after five innings. I think we all were wondering was something wrong with him physically. Butterra, the way you describe the back tightness to you guys, I mean, it doesn't sound like a big deal, but that did sound like the reason for Griffin being pulled after just the five innings. Yeah. I think it's a combination of, he said on the flight, you know, long flight from these coast after the game the other day back was a little bit stiff. And then believe it or not, he said, being in the dugout while the team was hitting, they're very long half innings. And it sounds to me like if this is a closer game, he goes back out there and he keeps pitching and then seeing how he does the fact that they were up by double digits at that point, it was kind of like, hey, there's no reason to push this at all. Let's just call it a night. Great job. And make sure you're good to go next time out. You know, it'll be something to keep an eye on over the next five days. But I think this was kind of the ultimate in precautionary move. Yes, it would have been really nice in the first game of a road trip to not have to use up a couple of relievers like that and get length from your starter. But let's be honest, in the long run, what was more important, saving a couple of bullpen arms or making sure that Foster Griffin, one of your most important starting pitchers, doesn't do anything that could actually sideline him for any length of time. You know, I think it was the smart move under the circumstances that they were in in this game. Absolutely. It's just a shame from a standpoint of if we are going to see a complete game from a Nats pitcher this season, this really was it with the Nats up big and Griffin having thrown so few pitches over five innings, but the CG for FG was not to be. But let's also highlight this. So Griffin had those back-to-back games in which he gave up a bunch of runs that 15-1 loss at the Cincinnati Reds on May 14th. 9 runs and 4 to 3rd innings, the 9-6 win.
over the New York Mets at Nationals Park on May 19th, five runs in five innings. So he since then has been good in two of three outings. He did what he did in the two one win at the Atlanta Braves on May 24th, six shutout ending, six strikeouts, one walk. We did have what he did in the nine four win over the San Diego Padres at Nationals Park last Saturday. May 30th in that game, allowed three runs in five innings. So though he wasn't all bad in that game, he recorded five strikeouts through a good number of strikes as well and he scattered three solo homers. So that was kind of a mixed outing, but he was really good in this game. So it does seem like the hiccup that he had, especially in that outing at the Reds was just a hiccup and not the start of like an unraveling from Foster Griffin. - Yeah, another important sign in the bigger picture. We keep talking about this. When teams start to figure him out, can he make some adjustments and come back and show that that was the anomaly, the bad start, not that the great opening month or two of the season for him was the anomaly. And what he said he did here coming into this one, two things, number one, it was really emphasized, not just to him, but the whole pitching staff of the importance of throwing strike one. They've seen the numbers, they know the difference between getting ahead in the count '01 versus being behind the count '10. That Marlon series, remember when they threw 200 plus pitches in these games, they were behind in the count constantly. Not that they don't know the importance of it, but sometimes you just need a little bit of a refresher and a little bit of a prodding from the coaching staff say, "Hey, go out there throw strike one. You're gonna find you have a lot more success." Yes, every once in a while you might get ambushed by somebody on the first pitch, but for the most part you're gonna be better off. So he really attacked them and threw first pitch strikes in this one. And the other thing he did is he said he went back to some video from his Japan days to look at his splitter, the pitch that he picked up there that is one of his seven pitch arsenal and found some changes to make with that, with adjustment to the grip and some other things. And he started feeling a lot more confident about that in this start. I know he had at least one of his strikeouts came on the splitter. As we know, he is somebody who needs to have confidence in everything that he throws to be successful and to not become too predictable. I think the trouble he's run into is when he believes that other teams are starting to figure out what he might throw in certain situations. So to all of a sudden have a little more confidence in one of those pitches that maybe he wasn't feeling as good about and to go back to what he had done several years ago in Japan. Another sign of just how smart this guy is and just how hard he works between starts to make sure that he's constantly adjusting and staying on top of things. I think you saw that in this outing. - He is a thinking man's pitcher to be sure and you look at his numbers now. 13 games all starts, the R.A. 363 whip 1.10 and he has 69 strikeouts in 72 winnings of strikeouts, per nine innings of 8.63. You know, his stuff is not lethal as we have discussed but he does generate strikeouts. I give him a lot of credit for that. It's not just a bunch of outs based on the variance of a bad at ball like he's got stuff that can result in swings and misses and we're seeing that here on a pretty consistent basis. The Nats relief pitching in this 14-1 win at the Diamondbacks late night on Friday night. Very good two Nats relievers combined for four scoreless innings, packed in shulks, two scoreless innings with two swinging strikeouts. He gave up two singles, a Cole Henry, two scoreless innings despite giving up two singles, despite issuing a hit by pitch and despite that fielding error by CJA Abrams. I guess this is kind of where we are with Cole Henry, right? Mop of duty, but good to see him throw two shutout innings. He needed that. I mean, not that mop of duty is something that you look forward to or that necessarily proves or disproves who you are as a pitcher but Henry had been struggling. So I was glad that he got the two shutout innings there. - Yeah, it shows you he's kind of the last man on the totem pole in the bullpen. He's the guy who's gonna be pitching in lopsided games, but if he wants to be using more situations of consequence, you gotta prove you can do the job in these blowout games and he did a few more pitches than you would have liked from him in that kind of situation. But right now he'll take anything he can get as a confidence boost. You know, for him, good to see that, if you see shults come in and just kind of pick up right where Griffin left off. And I know it would have been ideal to have Griffin go really far in this game. You still only use two relievers. That's a nice thing. You go into Saturday's game and you've got what six relievers, fully fresh and available to you. I think they're gonna be just fine as they look ahead to the rest of this road trip. - All right, a couple of injury updates on Nats pitchers. We have good news and we have bad news. The good news is that DJ Hurrers has taken an important step in his recovery from Tommy John surgery on his left elbow. He underwent that surgery April 16th. 2025 is currently on the 60 day interlis, but Hurrers looking good in his first rehab assignment. - I mean, DJ's been going through this process for so long now. - The bad news is that J Gurvin still has not started throwing. - It's coming along. He's just taking a little bit slow. And we would have liked four or two. - He has been on the 15 day interlis since May 24th with the right shoulder strain. Remember, we were told when he was placed on the 15 day IL that he would begin throwing in two days. We are long past two days since he was put on the 15 day IL and he still has not started throwing. - Yeah, he technically is eligible to come off the IL on Monday. Obviously that's not happening. If he hasn't even been able to play catch yet. So it has not progressed the way that they hope. We're not getting a whole lot here on why that is or a level of concern. They're still making it seem like they're not overly concerned about it. But it's clearly not as minor as they initially believed or wanted to believe. And you also have to look to what Andrew Alvarez has done in his place and say maybe they don't feel pressure to get Irvin back on the active roster as soon as possible. It maybe provides him a little more opportunity to take their time with him. We'll see. You want to see him playing catcher sometime soon, the longer that drags out. It's not just about that part of it, but then the longer you're shut down, then the longer it takes to build you back up. And now, all of a sudden, he's going on a rehab assignment and pitching several games in the minor leagues before he's good to go for five, six innings and a big league game again. So that to me is probably where we're at right now. You need to see him throwing you relatively soon or else the rehab now takes a lot longer. With DJ Hurs, a great sign. Obviously that's an important step for anybody coming back from Tommy John. I would also caution though, they're going to take this thing very slowly with him. You're allowed 30 days on a rehab assignment. He'll probably move up to one of the minor league affiliates. I would guess soon, but let's also keep in mind in DJ Hurs' case. This isn't necessarily somebody who the moment he completes his rehab is going to be activated. He has options, does not have a lot of big league experience and hasn't pitched in a very long time. I would not be surprised at all if once he is officially deemed healthy, that he's then optioned to triple A and let him get into that five day routine of pitching in the minor leagues and not feel like you have to force it. They're not in a position where they have to say, hey, you're healthy, you're in the rotation here in the big leagues. They don't need to do that. This is somebody who, as we know, was pretty promising before he got hurt, some huge strikeout games, but also pretty inconsistent. They want to see him have some success over a period of time before they even consider putting him in the major league rotation again. You tell us what you think. Hit us up on X at Nats_Chat. You can find us on Blue Sky at Nats_Chat podcast. You can email us
[email protected]. We invite you to check out our website as well. Natschatpodcast.com at which you can purchase a Natschat podcast t-shirt. All nationals radio highlights on Natschat courtesy of 1067, the fan from Mark Supram and Hamal Goldie. We thank you for listening. We'll talk to you next time on the Natschat podcast. And we leave you now with this update on the Nats Triple A affiliate, the Rochester Red Wings from the voice of the Red Wings, Josh Wetzel. Raking ball hammered towards center field. Thompson's going back. He's on the 1-8 track to the fence. It's gone. Yo Yo Morales chucks the bad away. And the Red Wings win the ball game on Yo Yo Morales. Three run, a walk of Homer to the right of dead center field. All right time for your Rochester Red Wings update. As of right now, the afternoon of Friday June the 5th, the Red Wings are in first place at 37 and 22 in the first half of the international league. They've won 23 of their last 28 games. And they're coming off the best calendar month for the Red Wings since 1997 going 26 in the month of May. Third baseman, first baseman, Yo Yo Morales has been fantastic. He had a terrific month of May hitting 361 with eight homers 20 batted in. And overall, he's third in the league and batting at 340, tied for fourth in the league with 13 home runs. He's third in the league and hits runs and slugging second in the league in OPS when it on base plus slugging of 1,000 to at the moment. Abbey, Melacortes, maybe had an even better month of May. He hit 313 with nine homers and 29 batted in. The first baseman only played 17 games because he missed one series with a cut in his leg. The 29 Arby eyes in one calendar month, the most in one month for a Red Wings player since 2004 right now with 48 overall runs driven in or T's ranked second in the international league. Brady Houses played 12 games since getting optioned from the Nationals. He's hitting 280 with four homers and eight batted in. And in Fjeler, Seaver King, the former Nationals first round pick, has played 13 games for the Red Wings. He's hit 315 with three homers and 15 driven in in his first two plus weeks in AAA. He recently had a 42 game on base streak end between Harrisburg and Rochester. Now he's merely reach base in 47 of the 48 games.
he's played this season. On the pitching side of things left hander Jackson Kent recently promoted from double a Harrisburg. Two of his three starts have been very good. He has 2 and 0 the 5.27 ERA in those three starts 16 strikeouts and 13 and two thirds innings. Louise Parallel is missed a couple of weeks. He was hit on the arm with a line drive again a couple of weeks ago. Missed a starter to he has now posted a one and four record a 3.05 ERA however. And opponents are only batting 182 against the former hard throwing Red Sox farmhand and relief pitcher Eddie Jean currently leads the international league in both games pitched with 27 and saves 9 saves for Eddie Jean. He is only allowed 19 hits in 29 and a third inning so far this year for the Redwings. I'm Josh Wetzel and that's your Rochester Redwings update. It's on the way home to house right handed batter swings and clocks one deep to left center. Base going back on to the track he can look up and watch it sail out of here. Brady house homers for his second straight time up. It's his second two homer game of the homestand and it's now 8 to 2 Syracuse.
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