Gore battles consistency during 'frustrating' start

NEW YORK -- Sticking in the Majors as a starting pitcher isn’t always about lighting up the radar gun to blow pitches by batters, or ending up on Pitching Ninja’s Twitter page for a slider that broke 21 inches off the plate.

It’s about consistency between starts, no matter the stuff that you have on that day or night. MacKenzie Gore, who was coming off an outing in which he tossed five scoreless innings, struck out eight and helped the Nationals complete their first sweep of the season, looked to keep his run of solid starts going on Friday night at Citi Field.

“He’s been good,” said manager Dave Martinez prior to the Nationals’ 5-1 loss to the Mets. “He’s been attacking the zone, using his fastball well, keeping the ball down, which we talked about a lot with him. … The key is about throwing strike one, and getting ahead of hitters.”

On Friday, Gore once again made it through five innings. But against the Mets, he found more varied results: he gave up five hits and walked four, while striking out just two. The big blow came on a long three-run homer off the bat of Pete Alonso in the bottom of the fifth inning, which ended up saddling Gore with the loss.

That blast was preceded by Gore leading off the inning with two walks against the bottom of the Mets' order, as Brett Baty and Francisco Alvarez both reached on free passes.

In Gore’s mind, that moment was equally as frustrating as the Alonso homer.

“Both, but the walks were bad,” Gore said. “It’s just frustrating because we had done a better job of that lately, at least getting ahead of guys. Today, even the innings before weren’t great. So it was just frustrating.”

Both Gore and his skipper knew that the key to the lefty’s success hinged upon starting off as many batters as possible with strike one. On Friday, out of the 23 batters he faced, he started off just five with first-pitch strikes.

“Two bad walks, and then a hanging slider -- then it was 3-0,” said Martinez. “Leadoff walk, then you walk the next guy, you put yourself in the position to face a pretty good hitter.

“When he’s throwing strikes and he’s getting ahead, he’s really good. He was really good until he walked those two guys [in the fifth inning].”

Gore battled through each frame of his outing, having to pitch from the stretch in four of the five innings. That constant stream of traffic on the basepaths, having to tiptoe out of trouble for numerous innings, makes for a mentally exhausting night, especially under the hot and humid Flushing sky.

Those situations produce moments that demand flawless execution. And one imperfect pitch, a slider to Alonso that caught far too much of the plate, sunk Gore’s night.

“I just didn’t get ahead of guys,” Gore said. “But when I’m behind in the count consistently, it’s just tough to get guys out. That's why I had runners on every inning. Even with the guys I got out, I was behind for the most part. I’d done a better job of that lately, but not tonight.”

On the flip side, the Nationals couldn’t get anything going against Max Scherzer, who tossed seven innings of one-run ball, striking out seven. The only player to muster any damage against the right-hander was Luis García, who finished the night a triple shy of cycle. In the 7th inning, García muscled an up-and-inside fastball over the right-center-field wall, raising his career batting line against Scherzer to an impressive 6-for-11 with two homers.

“To be honest, I can’t even tell you,” García said through translator Octavio Martinez when asked what his secret to success is against the likely future Hall of Famer. “I feel like maybe I go in there with a greater focus because it is Max Scherzer. … I think one of his best pitches, if not the best, is his fastball, and I’m a good fastball hitter. Maybe that’s it.”

García, who has settled into the second-base spot alongside CJ Abrams and made a stellar play up the middle to end the fourth inning, has had a tough month of July, slashing .194/.236/.239 entering Friday. There’s hope that Friday night's performance, which ended with a calmly delivered left-on-left single in the ninth, could be a catalyst for his luck to change.

“Today he really slowed his legs down and stayed behind the ball really well,” said Martinez. “So hopefully tomorrow, we can get him to do the same thing.”