Nats' bats break out and Gore K's 10 after dugout tensions flare

WASHINGTON -- Tensions spilled over in the Nationals’ dugout on Friday night before they were washed away by a seven-run inning and 10 strikeouts from MacKenzie Gore en route to Washington's 8-1 win over Miami. The Nationals snapped an eight-game losing streak at Nationals Park against the Marlins.

“All of a sudden, we clear the air and here we go,” manager Dave Martinez said. “The boys stepped up and we got some big runs, we had a big inning.”

The Nationals moved past the exchange between Gore and third baseman Nick Senzel to score a season-high-tying seven runs in the bottom of the third. It is the second time the Nats have scored as many runs in a single inning in the past week (June 9 against the Braves).

“They hugged each other,” said Martinez. “It’s not the first time I’ve seen that happen. I could tell you this: I’ve been on some really good teams where guys get after it and everything was OK. Like I said before, this is a competitive game and sometimes, within one another, it gets that way. But they worked it out.”

Gore approached Senzel after the top of the second inning. While the players did not share what prompted the exchange, it took place after Senzel’s throw on a Nick Fortes grounder down the third-base line was late to first baseman Joey Meneses.

“We’ve handled it in here,” said Gore. “I think the biggest [thing] is that that was something that I can’t do. But I’m going to leave it at that. That’s on me.”

When asked the subject of the conversation, Gore replied, “I’m not going to share anything other than [that] I was in the wrong.”

Right fielder Lane Thomas stepped in between them and pointed for Gore to walk away. Senzel reached out and shoved Gore. Left fielder Jesse Winker put his arm around Gore and led him to the steps into the clubhouse.

“It’s a situation and we worked it out internally,” Senzel said. “What stays in here, stays in here -- and that’s all there really is to it.”

Senzel, who entered the game with an 83.9 mph average arm strength, threw the ball to Meneses on the Fortes grounder at a 72.7 mph arm strength. Fortes beat out the play, running at a 28.0 feet per second sprint speed (the Major League average is 27.0 feet/second).

“I’ve probably got to do a better job of getting rid of it with a better throw,” said Senzel. “Maybe a little lackadaisical so that one’s on me.”

Thomas -- Senzel's childhood best friend from travel youth baseball -- helped put the dugout incident in the rear-view by pummeling a three-run homer in the bottom of the third off righty Shaun Anderson to drive in Jacob Young and CJ Abrams.

Meneses continued his recent momentum by plating Winker and Eddie Rosario on a single into center field. The Marlins called on righty reliever Huascar Brazoban to replace Anderson, who had made his first Major League start since 2019. The Nats loaded the bases with Meneses, Luis García Jr. and Senzel before Abrams belted a line-drive single into left field to add two more runs.

“They’re just two competitive dudes,” said Thomas. “I think good teams, that stuff happens. You’ve got a lot of guys who compete and compete hard. It kind of fired me up. I think we had a good inning after that.”

With the offense locked in, Gore got in a rhythm, too. He pitched a season-high seven innings and did not allow a run after the second inning. In a 10-strikeout night, Gore tied Pirates right-hander Jared Jones for the most swings-and-misses in a game in MLB this season. He also reached double-digits in strikeouts for the third time in 14 starts this season -- compared to twice in 27 starts last season.

In spite of the early exchange, the Nationals extended their winning streak over the Marlins to five games and improved to 12-9 since May 25.

“It’s the competitive nature of them, and what they did after that was awesome,” said Martinez. “The rest of it will stay in our circle.”