Gore's no-hit bid a highlight of impressive season

CHICAGO – There were points this season when MacKenzie Gore wasn’t satisfied with his performance, and he never wavered from his commitment to improve.

As he nears the end of his second full season in the Major Leagues, the southpaw is showing the results of that resolve.

Gore dazzled with 6 1/3 no-hit innings in the Nationals’ 5-1 win over the Cubs on Saturday afternoon at Wrigley Field. Add that to his last five starts, and he has posted a 1.82 ERA since Aug. 23.

“It’s got to be pretty high up there,” Gore said. “If you can go seven and strike out nine, it’s going to be a solid outing. Taking a no-hitter into the seventh is always fun. I think it was a good one.”

Gore overpowered the Cubs’ lineup with his longest career no-hit bid and kept them from scoring until Patrick Wisdom homered in the seventh. Gore allowed one run, one hit, three walks and hit one batter across 94 pitches.

Gore improved to 10-12 and lowered his ERA to 4.04 in his 31st start of the season. He completed seven innings for the third time this year, and he fanned at least nine batters for the sixth time.

“He was really good,” said Nationals manager Dave Martinez. “His tempo was really, really good today. It looked like he slowed everything down and was really attacking the strike zone. But all his stuff was electric. He pitched really well today. I’m proud of him because he battled in the middle there, and he’s finishing up strong, which we love.”

Gore’s lone hit allowed on the day came off a first-pitch 95.5 mph fastball to Wisdom. The Cubs’ designated hitter had been gameplanning for the seventh-inning at-bat, and he rocketed a 421-foot solo home run to left-center field.

"[I was] just thinking about getting him a tick out front,” Wisdom said. “He was beating me in the first two at-bats just by a frame or two. [I was] just making a conscious effort to play it more out front.”

Gore hurled his fastball on 62 of his pitches, maxing at 97.1 mph and averaging 95 mph. He also worked his curveball (21 pitches), slider (seven pitches) and changeup (four pitches).

"He did a good job with what he's good at, and that's the fastball with some good ride, and then the good curveball, essentially,” said Cubs manager Craig Counsell. “Those are effective pitches, and [he] controlled counts really well. I know he's got a little walk in him, but we weren't able to take advantage of that. He pitched well."

Joey Gallo provided Gore with valuable run support when he launched his second home run of the series. He drove in Juan Yepez and José Tena on a Statcast-estimated 377-foot homer to right field off reliever Keegan Thompson in the sixth frame.

“MacKenzie’s got elite stuff,” Gallo said. “Playing with him this year and getting to know him, he’s an extremely hard worker, really cares about his craft and he loves having fun, too. I think a lot of guys come to the ballpark, they see it as a job and whatnot. But MacKenzie really loves coming to the ballpark and just playing the game of baseball and being the best that he can be.

“He had a little hiccup there in the middle of the year, but [it’s a] long year. And it says a lot for him to be able to kind of get over that and be pitching well here at the end.”