Whiff king: Gray's career night guides Nats

PHILADELPHIA -- Aside from a pair of mistakes to arguably the hottest hitter on the planet, Josiah Gray's stuff was otherwise nearly untouchable on Wednesday night at Citizens Bank Park.

Gray put together a career night to earn his first win in more than a month in the Nationals' 3-2 victory over the rival Phillies. The 24-year-old right-hander racked up a career-high 11 strikeouts while inducing 22 swings and misses.

Those 22 whiffs were not only another career best for Gray, but they're tied for the most by any Nationals pitcher since the start of last season. Max Scherzer had a pair of 22-whiff starts for the Nats last year, while Joe Ross had one such outing.

For Gray, he had the Phillies guessing all night. He notched 11 swings and misses with his four-seam fastball (another career high), eight with his slider and three with his curveball -- all while constantly changing locations with each of those offerings.

"When he can throw his fastball around the plate and be consistent with throwing his fastball, that makes his slider a lot better," manager Dave Martinez said. "He did that tonight."

The end result for Gray was 11 strikeouts to just one walk over six innings. Over the last 10 seasons, the only other Nationals pitcher with more than 10 K's and no more than one walk in six innings or fewer was Scherzer in an Aug. 28, 2020, outing against the Red Sox.

“I had really good results with the fastball today, along with the other pitches,” Gray said. “It’s obviously encouraging for my next outing and something to build on, for sure.”

The only blemishes on Gray's night came on a pair of home runs by Kyle Schwarber. Gray hung a changeup over the middle of the plate in the fourth, then left a curveball over the middle in the sixth -- and Schwarber obliterated each into the right-field seats. That marked the second straight multihomer game for the former National, whose 16 home runs since the start of June are easily the most in the Majors.

“Red-hot hitter, one of the best hitters in the game -- really, on everything,” Gray said. “There's not many ways you can get him out.”

Outside of those two pitches to Schwarber, however, Gray did a masterful job of once again keeping a potent Phillies lineup off-balance. Making Wednesday's performance all the more impressive is the fact that it came just two and a half weeks after holding this same Philadelphia club to one hit over six scoreless innings in a June 18 pitchers’ duel opposite Aaron Nola at Nationals Park -- one the Phils ultimately won, 2-1, in 10 innings.

It appeared Gray was on his way to another hard-luck loss after Schwarber's second homer made it 2-1, but 22-year-old Luis García came through with a go-ahead two-run double in the top of the seventh to put Gray in position for his first win since June 3.

“Obviously, we all know what [Nola] can do, so for us to take the lead there in the seventh, it was a lot of fun to watch,” said Gray, who remained in the dugout to watch the Nats hit despite his night being over after the sixth. “I was looking forward to that. Happy we got the team win and happy we beat a guy like that -- one of the aces in this division and in this league. Really good win for the team.”

With Gray and García leading the way on a night when Juan Soto also reached base three times in his return to the lineup, the Nats are hoping it’s a sign of things to come.

“For us, in the clubhouse, it’s a lot of fun to see the younger guys contribute like that. It lets you know that brighter days are obviously ahead,” Gray said. “From the fan perspective, they can bank on that was a really fun night of baseball for the young guys to contribute. … For all of D.C. and Nats fans, it was a fun night of baseball.”