Soroka Stifles the Sweep

Walters is open late and a great spot to watch the final rounds of the NBA and Stanley Cup playoffs. Walters Sports Bar and Restaurant is located just across the street from Nationals Park. Now the pitch, Abram Swingsen, it's one of the year to deep right. Carol heading over but just watching this ball is gone goodbye into the Nationals bullpened. A lot of one-one cutter from Soroka, Abram's turns and takes it out of here down the right field line. Just like that, the Nationals answer back and we are tied. It's the Nationals, one of the Diamondbacks won. Now the pitch is swinging and a line drive deep double up field line toward the corner, trouble if it's fair. And it is and it is gone. Into the air as of a bullpened on a change up out over the play. A two run Holmer for Marino, his fourth of the year and the Diamondbacks. Now have a three run cushion. It's Arizona four in Washington one. Clark into the wind. The O2 to cruise here comes, checkswing strike three and the ball game is over. So a quick inning for Clark out of the pen to close it out for the Diamondbacks. Former national Michael Soroka becomes an 18-winner holding the Nationals to run on three hits over seven. Deepak's get two perfect innings out of the bullpen. A Cavali will suffer the loss as the Diamondbacks salvage the final game of the series. And welcome to NatSChat. I'm Al Goldie, host of the Al Goldie Podcast. I'm joined by Washington Nationals insider Mark Stuckerman of natsternald.com. He's at Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona with a NatS on Sunday had a hard time against a former Nat. And Michael Soroka five one loss at the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday denying the Nats a three game sweet. But the Nats still won this three game series. And now in L.O.B. is 2026 regular season or back at 533 and 3321 and 13 on the road versus 12 and 20 at home. Good to have you with us. We have a website that we invite you to check out natSChatpodcast.com at which you can purchase a NatSChat podcast t-shirt a new shipment of NatSChat podcast t-shirts has just come in both the blue and red versions of the t-shirts of Henry Stock that we appreciate the support very much that website again is NatsChatpodcast.com. And we always appreciate those of you who wear your NatsChat podcast t-shirts to Nats games. Always make sure to let us know when you do that either on X at Nats underscore chat or on blue sky at NatsChat podcast you can email us to NatsChat podcast at gmail.com. We love seeing that and we love putting that stuff out there. So you know you put something like that out on X we will gladly repost that for all to see. So Michael Soroka you know the Nats over the first two games of this series at the Diamondbacks did so well against Diamondbacks starting pictures. But the Nats on Sunday struggled against our old pal Soroka one run in seven inning six dry gouts. December 2024 the Nats announced having agreed with Soroka as a free agent on a one year contract. What was reported nine million dollar deal the Nats as you may recall flip Soroka traded him this past July 31st. What was 2025 M will be trade deadline day traded him to the Chicago Cubs for two prospects and shortstop Ronnie Cruz and outbuild or Christian Franklin and Mark the Nats on Sunday could not solve the puzzle that was Michael Soroka. I mean they had nothing the C. J. Abrams home run and hardly anything else and. As I'm watching that game play out thinking myself okay I've seen this from Soroka for five innings he can look really good. And then last year that usually meant he would hit a wall about the six thinning and it would all come. Cumbling down and that was not the case this time it got through the six then came back out for the seventh something we never saw him do as a member of the nationals. And he completed the seventh to and finished on a hundred pitches exactly good for him that he's healthy he's pitching well this the start while obviously really good was not necessarily out of the ordinary for him this year he's had a very good season. So far for Arizona I know a lot of people on the national side around last year are really happy for him on a personal level they wish didn't happen against them but he was in control this was. The version of Michael Soroka that the Nats hope they would see a lot of last year and again they would see glimpses of it here and there within a start but it was pretty rare for him to be able to sustain that over an entire start. It looks like he's in good physical shape and pitching well that he is now able to do that good for him the Nats over the first two games of the series 20 runs the Nats in this game three loss on Sunday just one run I mean just such a difference in what. We had seen from this offense over the first two games of the series and there just was not a lot happening with this team offensively in this game I mean you look at the Nats totals for this game one run three hits although each hit was an extra base it so you know you could say this about the 2026 Nats so good they all offensively that even in a battle offensive game they can do something that stands out like that where each hit is an extra base it and that's at a homer in two doubles up it just two walks. Oh for four with runners in scoring position the home run coming from CJ Abrams he is an at starting shortstop in number four batter one for four with a solo home or Abrams in the Nats one runs second a lead off Homer to right field to tie the game at one the Nats unlike in each of the first two games of this series did not put up two runs in the top of the first but did get that Homer from Abrams and so in the moment you maybe feel like all right now the offense is getting going but the offense never really got going. No first of all great swing by Abrams there to hit that ball out to lead off the top of the second to cutter on the inner third of the play and he got his hands in on turned on it and sent it down the right field line into the bullpen so another and just a long line of really impressive at bats from CJ Abrams so far this year but after that broke a comes right back one two three didn't get another hit again until the six thinning and that was Curtis meets double so they just couldn't sustain anything here and you know a lot of these guys some from were around last year for him I think a lot of them are still kind of new they maybe don't really know so Roku the way that you know others might it felt like they just didn't really know what to do with the they attacked him early later on in the game it felt like they were maybe expanding the strikes own a little bit chasing some pitches that weren't great pitches to hit they just never found a comfort zone against him and it's a credit to him but you know I'll tell you what it says something about the state of the national line up that a game like this feels so out of the ordinary this kind of stuff happened all time the last few years you know one run on three hits we were very used to that kind of game this year. It really feels like totally out of left field you never see a game like this coming because that is having done this very often. Yeah, I mean it's hard to be mad right with how good the offense has been with the fact that the that's one the first two games in this series so you're playing with house money in a game three like this. I mentioned that that's having two walks each of those walks came from James wood he is an at starting D H and number one batter over two with two walks. How about Dylan Cruz in this game so he homers and has a single in game two of the series and then Cruz on Sunday as an at starting right fielder and number five batter over four but he per stand cast had two of the nants top three exit velocities in the game a line out in the top of the fourth at 111.2 miles per hour and a fly out in the top of the seventh at 102.5 miles per hour I am sure people are so sick of hearing about Dylan Cruz and the process and him hitting both hard and I get it man trust me I do I'm kind of tired of talking about it but you know our job on this podcast is to talk about what's going on and here we were again with Dylan Cruz doing his process being scorching two balls but not having anything to show for doing that in terms of results. Yeah, that's annoying. Obviously the success on Saturday helped make everybody feel better about the way things are going but the way he keeps saying it to us is that he is fully focused on the process and not the results and so I didn't talk to him after this game but I would imagine he looked at that and said I liked the way I approach those at bats I made really good contact twice the line drive shortstop especially was just smoked and that's one of those like a couple feet one way or the other and it's a clean hit and we're talking about much better game for him but his mindset and we're you going to take him at his word on it is that that's what matters to him more than the end result now of course in the end of the day you do need some results he got him on Saturday he didn't get him in this one but the love average says eventually you keep hitting balls over 100 miles an hour you're going to get hits along the way and so I think important this one to these weren't hard hit ground balls is a lot and a fly out I think that's a better sign because frequently his hardest contact is often come on the ground now the last few days we're seeing him hit the ball in the air more over 100 miles an hour hopefully this all does ultimately lead to some sustained success and some results that really stand out. It feels like if crews ever really gets going he's going to get like white hot we're just waiting for him to really get going that really hasn't happened in any of his stints at the major league level so far but it does feel like if it comes it's going to be like an avalanche and I think we're all just kind of waiting for that to happen and hopefully does happen at some point soon by the way I mentioned James would as an at starting D. H. the initial that's line up for this game had wood as a starting left field or daylin Lyle as a starting D. H. then that's then alter that to wood as a starting D. H. Lyle as a starting field or not that this is that big of a deal but any idea why the Nance made that change. I think his knee was still a little bit bothering him and we found a pitch off his knee on Friday night came out of that game when they were way ahead already and then he served as the D. H. on Saturday probably for that reason I think they maybe were hoping initially he'd be good enough to go in the field on Sunday but they said you know what if it's still bothering at all let's just let you take your form. or bats stay off your feet. And Dale and Lyle, by the way, we can get in this today or another time. His defensive numbers have gotten a lot better. And it's been kind of an underrated part of this season we haven't talked a lot about it. He has definitely been better in the outfield. He made a really nice catch on Saturday, tracking down a ball in the left field corner. I think, yes, James Wood is the better defender and you ideally rather have him out there. But I think it's not the worst thing to have Dale and Lyle playing in left field on a more regular basis because I think the improvement this year has been significant. And that's a great sign for him. Absolutely. I mean, he looks a lot more comfortable. He's making just things seem more normal and routine. You know, there were some adventures last season to be sure. And if you go by the stats, I mean, he for last regular season had an out-sup of average per stat cast of minus eight. He for this regular season going into Sunday, out-sup of average of plus two. I mean, that's a significant turnaround. So good for him for doing that. And you know, if he can be someone who you feel comfortable playing in the outfield and not someone who you feel like you have to have more often than not as a D.H., that's a huge bonus. I mean, he's too young and he's an athletic guy. You'd like to think he could be a good outfielder and it's good to see that we're seeing signs and he can be a good outfielder. Right. I remember he did it one time in the minor league's played center field. So it's not like there's no ability there from him. Obviously, given their other talent they have here, he's not going to play center field with the nationals when you have Jacob Young and Dylan Cruz. And if Robert Hasliver comes back up, that kind of thing. But I do think it's important. He really talked about it this winter in the spring about that was a big point of emphasis for him to improve his defense. And what it also does is it allows you to give wood days like this where you can just D.H., it's not the worst thing in the world. Not that you don't just like Lyle, you don't want wood to become a permanent D.H., but any chance you get to take him off his feet a little bit because he doesn't take days off in general. I think that's a good thing and you still keep his bat in the line. Yeah, for sure. I mean, wood is such an iron man. It's one of the under, I think, graded, understated, underdiscuss things about him. And we knock on wood when we say this, but he's not only great, he has been supremely durable. I mean, he, like a lot of guys on this team, just not showing any kind of pension for injury, but specific to wood. Like when you think about a franchise guy, a guy who hopefully the Nats end up paying a ton of money, you want to pay someone who's going to stay healthy and wood so far as showing that he can stay healthy, so good to see that. Don't knock on wood too much or he might get hurt. Just be careful if you're going to do that. That's true. That's a good point. I didn't consider that. Algold, a year to tell you about window nations by 4, get 4 free sale that's going on this summer during the heat. But before that, the window nation look into the future. Hit deep to left and gone. Franklin on the second pitch of the game hits his fourth of the year. He's knocked in 18 and Rochester, which got to fellows early on Tuesday. Does so again today. It's one nothing red wings. Window Nation has a great offer for listeners of the Nats Chat podcast. The buy for get 4 free sale during which you could replace all of your home's windows and get half of them for free. Plus you can get your windows with no money down and no payments or interest for two years. The sale end soon, so call 86690Nation or visit windownation.com now to book a consultation 86699 window nation or windownation.com to book a consultation and tell window nation that you want to deal that you heard about from Al Goldie on the Nats Chat podcast. Here is the wine by Cavali and the pitch. Swing it a long drive. Hit to right center field. This is way back and anyone get there. No, it is gone. Goodbye. All run for Corbin Carroll bounces back over the fence caught by Jacob Youngady with the right back over to the swimming pool area. Corbin Carroll, it's his 10th home run of the year, swinging it all five pitches from Cavali, four foul balls, and then a home run. And it's the diamond backs scoring first in the first today. Arizona wanted Washington nothing. I would like to have those pitches back. Take the full responsibility on it. I'm going to curve ball to Carroll when I was trying to go down with it. It's just a bad pitch on my part. Then that starting pitcher in this 5-1 loss at the diamond backs on Sunday, Cade Cavali, who ended up not doing well for the first time in six outings. He had been in a nice groove. That groove, unfortunately, came to an end. He allowed four runs in five innings. He gave up seven hits, which were two home runs, and five singles issued a walk, recorded just two strikeouts, but did throw a lot of strikes. 88 pitches, 61 strikes, just 27 balls. The home runs really ended up being the thing, Cavali. And the bottom of the first gave up a one-out solo home or by Corbin Carroll to right center field on an 0-2 pitch for a one-duffing diamond backs lead. And that was some shot by Carroll, 417 feet per stat cast in Cavali in the bottom of the fifth allowed two runs as he issued a lead-off walk, a Tommy Troy, and gave up a two-out two-run home or by Gabriel Moreno for a four-one diamond backs lead. So the home runs stand out, but also the lack of strikeouts, even with all the strike throwing. Cavali's been such a good strikeout pitcher, but in this game, just two strikeouts over his five innings. So he's pounding the strike zone. He threw his first 13 pitches of the game for strikes. That's great, but he didn't really have the putaway pitch. They were fouling a lot off. There was some weed contact that led to three hits in the fourth inning that all had to think an exit velocity of 70 miles an hour or below. So other than the two home runs, not a lot of loud contact, but he did not have that good putaway pitch that we have seen from him a lot this year. And I think that led to the lack of strikeouts and ultimately drove the pitch count up to the point that he only went five innings. So kind of a strange start. The two home run pitches were not great pitches. He was kicking himself for that. But there wasn't much else beyond that. I think it's a matter for him of refining it so that he's throwing pitches that look like strikes. We know he's a strike thrower. You get them swinging, but maybe pitches that then move out of the zone or state just off the edge and get them to swing and miss. And in this case, I think it was maybe around the play to almost too much in that led to all the contact and the lack of strikeouts. You look at Cavali now here. So he has made 14 starts. ERA 3.88, the whip is at 1.44, even with the low strikeout total for Sunday. It's got to strikeouts for nine innings of 9.82. Another thing like we just talked about with James Wood. And again, we knock on wood, whether it is James Wood or Phil Wood or whatever wood you want to engage in here. But Cavali is showing he can stay healthy here. Like I feel like that's an underrated aspect of his season. First of all, overall, he's doing well, but it's not like this guy has an element here, an element there. You know, you're worried about, oh, can he last for a while in games early in the season? He maybe wasn't going deep into games, but it wasn't for like health issues. It was more for like command issues. I think this is a really nice development that Cavali is demonstrating some real durability here. Yeah, absolutely. As much as we've wanted to look at the results, I'm not saying they aren't important because they are. And he has been overall good for them. We do have to keep reminding ourselves that if he does nothing else but make 25 to 30 starts this year in the big leagues and emerges healthy, that in itself is a huge win given his history. So yeah, you'd love for those to be 25 to 30 good quality starts and that if he ends the season with an ERA and the threes, like that's fantastic. But even if somehow he doesn't, like I would much rather see him go the whole season with an ERA that ends up over four, then I would see him only make 20 starts with a lower ERA. I think it's more important in the bigger picture, just that he proves that he can do this and that his body can hold up over a full 106 to game season for the first time. The results, yes, eventually that's going to be important and for the most part they have been good this year. But the two things he had to do this year, number one, prove that it could be healthy and then number two prove that it could be an effective big league picture. He's done both so far and I don't think we should shortchange that at all what he's done now through more than two months. We know that things can change. So there might not be a workload limit now, but maybe in a couple of months, Cavali starts complaining about something and then that's an institute of workload limit, come August, September. But as things stand right now, do you think there is a workload limit on Cavali or do you think if he's feeling good, he'll be allowed to complete the season and pitch as much as he can? Yeah, it's a good question. I haven't heard anything to suggest that they have limitations on him. Yeah, they're not going to extend him way beyond 100 pitches. We haven't really seen that happen. I think they're cognizant of that. But as long as he takes the ball every fifth day and has no complaints and as long as the performance is relatively okay and they're not seeing a drop in velocity or anything else that would be a warning sign, I think they're okay letting him continue. Now, you know, there could be different conversation come September, especially if the team is not really in the race. We'll see if they find some ways to manipulate that at all. But so far, he's taken the ball every time. There has been no issue that I've heard about and I think they're really pleased and willing to just kind of keep along that path as long as everything looks to be good. So this was a good series for the Nats in a variety of ways, including with the bullpen. As you may recall, the Nats bullpen was not good in the Nats previous series. The team getting swept by the Miami-Morlons at Nationals Park last Monday through Wednesday, June 1st, through the third. There really was like a step back series for a bullpen that had demonstrated some improvement. Well, the bullpen in this series bounce back big time Nats relievers over the three games in this series combined to allow one run in 11 innings. Two Nats relievers in this five-one loss at the Diamondbacks on Sunday combined to allow one run in three innings. Riley Cornelio is back. The Nats on Sunday afternoon announced having recalled him from Triple A Rochester. This is the corresponding roster move to the Nats on Saturday night announcing having optioned Reliever Cole Henry II Rochester. Now Cornelio had a mixed outing, shall we say, on Sunday. One run in two innings gave up a double and a single issued three walks. So he recorded one strikeout, but he did not. throw many strikes given the number of pitches 44 pitches 25 strikes 19 balls. Gus Barland did then toss a perfect bottom of the eight, but Cornelios first outing at the major league level here did not go so well. That was all the way back on April 24th and that's five four loss at the Chicago White Sox Cornelios in that game. Three runs to earned in two innings. He issued four walks in that game 42 pitches 21 strikes. That was it 21 balls and we saw what we saw in this game on Sunday. What do you think about Cornelio back at the major league level and what is going to be the usage of them do you think? So here's the interesting part of it. Blake Petera essentially said that the plan is for him to stay this time and to be a multi inning reliever. Alla Brad Lord Mitchell Parker, you know, I guess Andrew Alvarez before he moved into the rotation. That's how they are viewing him for now. The performance of AAA hadn't been lights out. It's not like he was dominating there, but if you look back at the game logs, he did in the last week make a two inning relief appearance for the first time and that would be the tell that they're looking to do something along these lines. So they view him as a potential multi inning reliever for them. That doesn't mean they couldn't think of him as a starter ultimately down the road someday, but for now they like what they have and they would think it's more valuable for him to get experience in the big leagues as a reliever than keeping him at AAA as a starter. Now what he's going to need to do up here and we have not seen this in the two starts. The results were better this time. He's still not throwing into strikes and he's falling behind and you know, walk the first batter fell behind in the count to several really had trouble landing his slider for strikes. This is going to be the test for him now. Can he? He's got great stuff. We've seen that. Can he, you know, keep it in the strikes on enough? Can he work ahead in the count more to be able to have success? If so, he can stick up here in that kind of role. They'll give him some rope, of course. This wasn't a super high leverage spot because they were trailing. We'll see how that goes if they make a call to, you know, only use him when they're trailing or would they bring him into another type game again. We'll have to see how that goes, but this was not just a one time deal. The intention here is to have him up here and see what he can do for them as a reliever and forgetting about the starting thing for now. So we'll see what happens with Andrew Alvarez. But right now, the Nats, you could argue have four long men on the pitching staff in terms of Alvarez, Riley Cornelio, Mitchell Parker and Brad Lord. Now Alvarez currently is in the rotation and it's going to be interesting to see what happens when Jay Gervin comes back, you know, if that's anytime soon. But yeah, the Nats are bulking up on bulk men, so to speak, in terms of relievers who can accumulate innings and work for multiple innings at a time Cornelio now over his two games for innings seven walks issued. But like you said, he has good stuff. And it was someone who was doing really well in the minors, 2025 minor league pitcher of the year. He last season pitched for high a Wilmington, double a Harrisburg and triple a Rochester. So he is pretty well regarded and in a season in which the Nats top pitching prospects are not expected to be summoned to the majors, guys like Andrew Alvarez and Riley Cornelio have real opportunity here. So you'd like to see these guys take advantage of it. Alvarez so far has done that. We'll see with Cornelio. Yeah, there's definitely an opportunity. There's a very similar career path here to Brad Lord. Now the stuff is better than Lord would show. But there's a similar thing where it wasn't all that highly touted in the minor leagues, but really came on, you know, jumping up several levels in the system and earning his spot in the big leagues. And as with Lord, who has been a starter and you say, well, maybe that's where his future is he's proven very valuable in that long slash middle relief role for them. And you know, it's funny. Cornelio actually was drafted in the same classes. Lord, they're close friends. He's watched his career very closely and spoke today about like modeling himself after that in some ways. So he's learned a lot from him and that he really wants to show that he can be adaptable and be available to the team and whatever role they need from him. It seemed like he had fewer nerves this time around. I think that's better. But ultimately, you got throw strikes up here. Brad Lord is done a good job of that. Cornelio, he's going to get more opportunities. Let's see how he does with it. If he can throw strikes with that kind of stuff, he's going to have a chance to be up here for a while. The pitch coming. So in a long drive, center field deep. Back goes young. Near the warning track. Edge of the track makes the catch. Runner's tag at every base. The throw in toward third is not going to be in time. Carol scores. Mariner to third. Arred out of a second on a booming sack fly for Paveon Smith. And the Diamondbacks at a run and lead five to one. Next up for the Nats is a three game series at the San Francisco Giants. The Nats have listed the following starting pitchers as probable for the series game one Monday night at 945 miles. Michael is game two Tuesday night at 945. The aforementioned Andrew Alvarez and game three Wednesday afternoon at 345 Foster Griffin. So he appears to be fine off leaving his previous outing here due to back tightness. Yeah, everything seems to be fine there. Michael is as far as we know is going to get the start. You never know with this. We didn't see Richard Love Lady all weekend. I don't know if that means they're holding, you know, saving them up to open. Perhaps San Francisco, but for now it's Michael Alvarez. And before we go, can I give you a little bit of breaking news? The team is promoting Eli Willets up to high A ball Wilmington after a very successful opening couple months in Frederick'sburg. And so first of all, because he's, you know, number one overall pick, that's a big deal in itself. But also we have seen now this group of young infielders that they have amassed both through the draft and through trades. And they're kind of climbing the ladder together again. And now several of them are going to be together in Wilmington. That's a pretty amazing infield they would have there of Eli Willets, Devon Fitzgerald and Ronnie Cruz. And I don't know how they're going to manage the playing time and figure out who goes where. But the Wilmington Blue Rocks may be the place to be now to watch some impressive young infielders play. Eli Willets so far, so very good of being selected with the number one overall pick in the 2025 L will be first year player draft. And you know, you think about what he could be. And you think about who he is not represented by. He is not represented by Scott Boris. And you look at the recent trend in MLB, which is not only that you sign key slash promising young players to contract extensions early, but that in many instances now you sign them more or less sight unseen at the major league level like you draft the guy, you have them in the minors and then you bring them up and you right away extend them or you may even have the extension worked out before you even call them up. And I wonder if Paul Taboni views Eli Willets as a candidate for such action. Now, of course, you need to see how the development goes. You're not doing the extension tomorrow. I get that. But I wonder if Paul Taboni, when he's sitting down and thinking long term, if he's eyeing Eli Willets especially with as well as he's doing so far as okay, this is a guy with whom we can do that. I say the Pittsburgh pirates did with their short stop, Conor Griffin and lock him up supremely early before his major league career ever truly gets going. It's certainly an enticing possibility. And I know that you know, the way Taboni and his front office very forward thinking the way they operate, I'm sure it has done more than just cross their mind. I'm sure they've internally at least had that discussion. It doesn't mean anything's going to actually happen. I can't remember if we discussed it on here, but a few weeks back, Willets did leave as original agency, which he was represented by Brian Manidia, former assistant GM of the Nationals and he went to CAA. Now, it's not Boris. So that's good in some ways. The Nats have a lot of history with CAA, a lot of their players, including Trey Turner, Ryan Zimmerman, represented by them. So we'll see where that goes from there. But if he keeps performing the way he has, the fact is already a high A ball less than a year after he was drafted, if he keeps that up, it's something to watch for sure. And if he's amenable to it, I could see there being at least a discussion at some point down the road by that possibility. Would make a lot of sense. Absolutely. You tell us what you think. Hit us up on X at Nats underscore chat. You can find us on blue sky at Nats chat podcast. You can email us Nats chat podcast at gmail.com. And like we said, we have a website you could check out to to get yourself a Nats chat podcast t-shirt that website is nats chat podcast.com. All nationals radio highlights on Nats chat or courtesy of 106 7 the fan. For Mark Superman, I'm Al Goldie, we thank you for listening and we'll talk to you next time on the Nats chat podcast. And now that's a spirit first by Doe Day. Well, let's get fly and he's safe. Wow. You're looking for tools, Arya. The man at first has them all and he's got a three hit game and his professional debut.