Corbin turns back clock in gem vs. Mariners

SEATTLE -- Jeimer Candelario entered the visitors' clubhouse at T-Mobile Park Wednesday morning announcing, “Happy flight! Happy flight!”

The Nationals were going for a series win against the Mariners before traveling to Philadelphia for the final leg of a three-city road trip. Starting pitcher Patrick Corbin helped ensure the cross-country travels would indeed be happy.

“These ones are fun,” said Corbin.

Corbin, 33, delivered one of his best pitching performances in recent years by spinning seven scoreless innings in the Nationals’ 4-1 win over the Mariners. He limited Seattle to five hits while recording a season-high nine strikeouts and zero walks while throwing 102 pitches (68 strikes).

“The fact that, today, he stepped up and he did what he did -- and we needed that out of him -- it was an unbelievable start,” said manager Dave Martinez.

Corbin used a pitch mix of 38% sliders, 34% four-seam fastballs and 27% sinkers. His slider yielded nine whiffs on 21 swings, and it had a bump in velocity -- up to 82.5 mph from his season average of 79.4 mph.

“Just a good job using both sides of the plate, good fastball command, good slider -- I had a really good feel for that today and got some swings and misses on it," Corbin said. "Defense played great and just was in a really good rhythm there with [catcher] Riley [Adams]."

Martinez lauded Corbin for throwing 20 first-pitch strikes and attacking the zone. Corbin threw seven scoreless for the first time since Aug. 21, 2019, against the Royals.

“His four-seamer was good today, his two-seamer was good and his slider was really, really good,” said Martinez. “He kept the guys off-balance, but gave us everything we needed.”

Corbin’s pitching line -- allowing no more than five hits while striking out nine and walking zero over seven scoreless -- had not been achieved by a Nationals pitcher since Joe Ross on June 13, 2021, vs. the Giants. Jon Lester was the last Washington pitcher to throw seven scoreless frames period, doing so on July 9, 2021, against the Marlins.

“I’ve been feeling good,” said Corbin, who has struggled in past seasons. “ … I just kind of went into the bullpen, tried to execute fastball command, good sliders and maybe simplify things and go from there.”

Corbin had allowed no fewer than two runs in each of his first 17 starts this season. He was one appearance removed from surrendering a season-high seven runs in five frames against the Padres last Friday. Entering Wednesday, Corbin had lost all four of his starts in June, during which he had posted a 6.55 ERA, allowing 16 earned runs off 33 hits across 22 innings.

“You can say whatever you want about Patrick,” Martinez said. “What I know about Patrick, he’s going to take the ball every five days. For me, that’s awesome and I love him for that.”

Corbin’s performance propelled the Nats to even their road series record at 6-6-1 and improve to 19-21 away from Nationals Park. He kept the game moving smoothly after Martinez was ejected in the sixth inning when Keibert Ruiz was called out on a play at home plate.

“The initial call was he was outside the line. I’ve seen way worse than that -- guys sliding, running around this side of home plate," Martinez said. "But [the umpire] saw something different."

Corbin also set the stage for right-hander Amos Willingham to make his Major League debut in the eighth inning with a four-run advantage.

“It’s great to get that lead early,” Corbin said. “But after the seventh inning there, knowing you’re probably done, just that relief to, 'Hey, let’s try to finish this out here.' I think from start to finish, I felt good, was in the zone, attacked these guys and put them on the offense.”