Nats Chat – Details, episodes & analysis

The Nats fell 5-3 on Saturday afternoon against the Cubs to conclude August at 61-75 overall. Mark & Al recap DJ Herz's outing against his former organization, who traded him to the Nationals last summer in exchange for Jeimer Candelario. Herz was outstanding in the opening four frames, but the wheels came off in the top of 5th, where he allowed four Chicago runs. (09:00) Drew Millas committed a crucial error in the top of the 7th in a rare start behind the plate. Millas did well offensively however as he came through with a pair of singles. (12:10) Dylan Crews best play of the game came in the top of the 8th when he threw out Seiya Suzuki at the plate. Crews meanwhile with the bat came away with a just single in the loss. (17:45) Jose Tena continued his surge at the plate with a trio of singles, but was one of the two Nationals who made an out on the bases in the bottom of the 6th. Tena was called up three weeks ago and is hitting .305 in that span. (30:00) Jacob Young didn't have the best game with his glove, but did appropriately double in the final game of the month. His OPS was .769, much higher than July's .540 (31:20) Washington is calling up infielder Darren Baker from Rochester. Baker is Dusty's son and is best known for JT Snow saving from a home plate collision in the middle of the 2002 World Series. (38:00) An update from AA courtesy of Terry Byrom, the Voice of the Harrisburg Senators. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Nats rally fell short in their 7-6 loss to the visiting Cubs on Friday evening. Al hosts solo and begins with Dylan Crews, who hit his 2nd career HR in the bottom of the 3rd. Crews struck out in the bottom of the 9th for the final out; stranding two runners. (07:00) CJ Abrams was moved down in the lineup to the 7th spot and responded with an 0 for 3 night with a walk. Hear Davey Martinez's pregame explanation as to why he dropped Abrams in order. (14:20) Jake Irvin had a disastrous top of the 2nd where he allowed all seven Chicago runs. Irvin had a bad August as his ERA for the month was 6.61 and for comparison in June his ERA was 2.31. (22:00) Al answers a listener email wondering about the future of ownership. Will the stadium get a corporate title sponsor in the near future? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Nats opened their brief home stand with a 3-1 loss to Colorado, who is in last place in the NL West. Mark & Al have another listless offensive performance to run through as the team returns to 14 games below .500. CJ Abrams homer was the only highlight and Luis Garcia was the lone member of the lineup to come through with multiple hits. (07:30) Joey Gallo is back in Washington after missing over two months due to a hamstring injury. It is unclear how much Gallo will play while guys such as Andres Chaparro and Juan Yepez are on the roster. (16:00) DJ Herz overcame a difficult opening inning to end up with a respectable start. Herz struck out seven hitters and so far this season he has 75 Ks in just over 60 IP. (23:15) Mitchell Parke will take the mound on Wednesday and he is emblematic of how up and down the young arms of the staff have been recently. (30:00) Dylan Crews homered on Tuesday night and it feels like his promotion to the majors could come any day now. (32:30) Josh Whetzel, the Voice of the Rochester Red Wings, gives an update from AAA. Names discussed include Crews, Brady House, Darren Baker, and Brad Lord. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For the first time in almost three years, the Nationals are over .500 on the season as they now are 18-17 after shutting out the visiting Orioles 3-0 on Tuesday night. Mark & Al put in perspective just how long it has been since the team has had a winning record, which is all the way back in early July 2021. (05:10) Trevor Williams continued his excellent start to the season as he struck out eight O's in his 5 IP. His ERA is 1.96 after seven starts in 2024 and Williams has not surrendered a homer. (12:45) Four relievers combined to only give up one hit in the final four frames of the victory. Robert Garcia, fresh off the IL, threw a 1-2-3 top of the 6th. Kyle Finnegan notched his 12th save of the season, which leads all of baseball. (18:00) The Nats drew six walks and collected six hits in the victory. What stood out the most on Tuesday was that they stole four bases and three of them came against Baltimore starter Corbin Burnes. (24:10) Victor Robles returned to the active roster, but Jacob Young got the start in CF. Davey Martinez mentioned that Robles might see action in RF as Young has played well this season. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Nats beat the Blue Jays 11-8 in a wild affair to capture the weekend series on a Sunday afternoon in Navy Yard after trailing 6-1 early in the game. Mark & Al have a lot to get to, but begin with Luis Garcia who had three crucial hits and knocked in four runs. Garcia homered twice in the series and is now hitting .337 so far this season. (12:00) Jesse Winker slugged a 3 run HR to put Washington ahead 7-6 in the bottom of the 4th. Winker also doubled on Sunday for his first multi hit game since April 27th. (15:00) Eddie Rosario had his biggest hit yet since joining the team as he clubbed a 2 run HR to break the 8-8 tie and put the Nationals up for good. Rosario's averaged is now .117 and raised 34 points over the weekend series. (22:00) Davey Martinez used six relievers on Sunday as the team finally have an off day coming up. The final seven outs came from the trusty duo of Hunter Harvey and Kyle Finnegan. (25:00) MacKenzie Gore only lasted three innings and committed one of the three errors charged to the team. Gore needed 76 pitches to get his nine outs as he gave up six runs, including a grand slam to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (33:00) The Orioles come to D.C. on Tuesday for a quick two game series. Baltimore has the AL's best record and the Nats will have another opportunity to get back over .500. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Nats lost 6-3 to visiting Toronto on a soggy Saturday afternoon. Al recaps the defeat as the Nationals yet again miss an opportunity to move above .500. The defense was bad as they committed four errors and all four runs that Jake Irvin allowed were unearned. Nick Senzel had two throwing errors in the loss and Trey Lipscomb also struggled at 1B. (10:00) Tanner Rainey tossed a scoreless top of the 9th inning. It ends a string of three consecutive outings of giving up at least one run. (13:10) A consolation prize for the offense on Saturday was that they drew five walks. Al notes the increase in walk percentage for this franchise this season. (16:00) Eddie Rosario earned his first hit at Nationals Park this season and his batting average is now up to .096. (19:00) MacKenzie Gore takes the mound on Sunday afternoon in the series rubber match, weather permitting. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Nats beat the visiting Blue Jays 9-3 on Friday night after initially trailing 3-0 in the 2nd inning. Al & Mark begin with Luis Garcia Jr., who did not start but flipped the game with a pinch hit 3 run HR in the bottom of the 7th to grab the lead. Garcia has been platooned as of late, but he is hitting .300 on the season. (13:30) Jacob Young exited the evening early due to back spasms. Young hit lead-off as Davey Martinez decided to tinker the lineup after the series loss in Texas. (18:45) CJ Abrams had an excellent game in the field as he made multiple highlight plays. Mark notes his defensive progress over the past year. (27:45) Hunter Harvey tossed a scoreless top of the 8th and Al points out that it is already his 15th appearance of the season as the Nationals have only played 32 games. (33:00) Weather permitting, Washington on Saturday afternoon will attempt to go over .500 for the first time since July 1st, 2021. Jake Irvin is slated to oppose fellow right hander Kevin Gausman. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Nats were shutout 6-0 in Thursday afternoon's rubber match in Arlington to return to a game under .500. Mark (From Texas) & Al discuss the Nationals bats staying cold as they only scored two runs in the entire series. The offense collected just four hits in the loss and Eddie Rosario (.086) was one of the starters that did not get one. (17:00) Mitchell Parker took his first MLB loss as he gave up three runs off of six hits in 5.1 IP. Mark explains that Parker did not get all the help possible from his defense early on in the outing. (21:00) The game was 3-0 until the bottom of the 8th when Matt Barnes allowed three runs and his ERA currently sits at 6.75. (24:30) Victor Robles has played CF in AAA-Rochester for the past few days and tripled. Might he be called up for this weekend vs. Toronto? (25:30) This week the Nats faced Wyatt Langford, who the Rangers selected one pick after Dylan Crews last summer. This leads to a discussion about Crews' MLB timetable as he has been OK so far this season with AA-Harrisburg. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Nats blanked the Rangers 1-0 on Tuesday night to return to .500 through 30 games. Mark (Live from Texas) & Al start with Trevor Williams, who is now 3-0 on the season in six outings. Williams lasted 5 IP and did not allow a run despite loading the bases in multiple innings. (12:30) The bullpen tossed four scoreless innings and it included Dylan Floro taking the mound in the 7th. Is he the new 7th inning guy in the "A Bullpen?". Kyle Finnegan notched his tenth save of the season, which is tied for the MLB lead. (16:30) Alex Call had the game's lone RBI and it was his first in the majors this season. The offense had five hits on the night and has not yet drawn a walk in this series. (19:30) Jacob Young was barely thrown out trying to steal 2nd and it ends his streak of 25 consecutive successful stolen bases to begin his career. (25:40) It is the Nationals first 1-0 victory on the road since.... 2017! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Nats four game win streak came to a halt on Tuesday night in Arlington as they fell 7-1 at the Rangers. Mark (From Texas) & Al begin with the slumping Eddie Rosario, who went 0 for 3 in the loss and is hitting just .088 so far this season. Rosario was signed during Spring Training to a minor league deal after playing the past few years in Atlanta. (9:30) Keibert Ruiz also went 0 for 3 and is hitting .143 so far. Ruiz does not have a hit since returning the lineup last Thursday vs. the Dodgers. (14:00) MacKenzie Gore gave up two runs in 5 IP and struck out seven Rangers. Gore has only allowed two runs or fewer in four of his six starts so far this season. (20:00) Tanner Rainey really struggled again as he gave up three runs in the bottom of the 8th. His ERA is at 9.32 and his velocity is noticeably lower than it used to be. As hard as it is to say to this 2019 contributor, will he be DFA'd soon? (25:00) April is over and the Nationals came very close to finishing over .500 as they sit at 14-15. Mark gives his observations from the opening month of the season. (30:00) Owen Ranger, who covers the Harrisburg Senators for "Nats Report", gives an update on the team's prospects in AA. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices