Gore's short start proves no problem for scrappy Nats

WASHINGTON -- Different Saturday, same outcome.

For the second week in a row, the Nationals forged a comeback victory after their starter struggled to get through the first inning.

Left-hander MacKenzie Gore’s pitch total reached 48 in the first frame against the Reds at Nationals Park on Saturday night. One week prior, rookie southpaw Mitchell Parker delivered 46 pitches in the first at Milwaukee and only completed two-thirds of an inning.

But like last weekend at American Family Field, when the Nats overcame a five-run first-inning deficit to win by one run, they edged out a 5-4 ‘W’ over the Reds with a late-inning fight.

“I really believe the boys are going to play hard for 27 outs. They’re not going to give up,” said manager Dave Martinez. “We stayed pretty close in the game, and I think they really felt that they had a chance to win this game. The bullpen was nails.”

After allowing nine runs in his past two starts and 19 runs (17 earned) in his past five, Gore was looking to come out of the All-Star break with a strong performance. But back-to-back walks to open the game set the tone for the hefty workload in the first inning. Martinez described Gore’s delivery as “very rotational” with arm-side misses.

“I didn’t have that strike pitch to get back in counts, and I think that’s kind of what’s been the problem the last six starts,” Gore said. “... It’s been ugly. I’m not getting hit, I’m just walking a lot of people. We’ve got to figure out how to clean that up -- we’re going to. But this one’s a frustrating one after a few before this.”

Once Gore reached 67 pitches (37 strikes) through two frames, Martinez made the first call to the bullpen with the Nats trailing, 3-2. Gore’s shortest start of the season ended with three runs on two hits and four walks.

“We’ll get him back and squared away,” Martinez said. “Like I said before, he’s a future All-Star. So we’re going to work with him, we’re going to get him right.”

The bullpen quintet of Jordan Weems, Robert Garcia, Dylan Floro, Derek Law and Kyle Finnegan covered the rest of the game with six strikeouts and held the Reds scoreless in the final six frames after Weems allowed a solo homer in the third. Floro and Law pitched two innings apiece, with Law earning the win (6-2) and Finnegan picking up his 27th save of the season.

“I don’t think as a reliever you’re ever ready for that because we expect the best out of our starters, honestly. We’re never thinking our guys are going to go under five or six innings,” said Law. “... I don’t think anything really preps you for it. I think when you see it’s happening, the adrenaline starts kicking in a little bit without the [bullpen] phone even ringing. I think that’s where everybody kind of turns a switch on real quick.”

The Nationals capitalized on the opportunity provided by the bullpen, and they took their first lead of the night in the eighth when Ildemaro Vargas opened the frame with a double and Jacob Young drove him in from third with a two-out single to clinch the club’s 26th comeback win of the season.

“Both times, the bullpen’s just been unbelievable,” said Young. “For them to be put in that type of situation is not easy, and for them to even give us a chance in those games is great. Both games, we were able to scrap runs throughout the game and get a big hit late -- last time by CJ [Abrams]. It was just cool to be able to win games like that and know that you have a ‘pen that keeps you in games.”