MIAMI — Sixteen batters came and went before the Miami Marlins could reach base against MacKenzie Gore, and on that fact alone, Wednesday was a step forward in the Washington Nationals’ rebuild. Gore’s final ledger included just one hit, one earned run and a walk with nine strikeouts, his highest total since mid-June.
The complications that followed were secondary concerns: a Washington comeback in the top of the eighth, spurred by a go-ahead RBI from James Wood; a minor collapse in the bottom of the eighth, via relievers Jose A. Ferrer and Kyle Finnegan; and a hitless top of the 10th for the Nationals that gave way to a walk-off loss when Xavier Edwards singled in the decisive run. The 4-3 defeat, the Nationals’ first in nine games against the Marlins, led to a two-game split at LoanDepot Park.
But Gore’s outing was the most important takeaway for the visitors: He had spent months searching for a second gear and a start like this. He pitched to a 5.13 ERA in June, a 7.62 mark in July and 4.05 in August, saved by two quality starts at the end of the month. He has insisted that the coaching staff has done its job, that his bullpens between starts have felt good and that he simply hasn’t been able to carry it to the mound. He had his velocity, lost it, then rediscovered it a few starts ago, just in time to keep this from being a lost season. As the tough times dragged on, he had begun to wear that emotional baggage.
“I was trying to execute there for a while, and it wasn’t very pretty,” Gore said. “Understand when I’m aggressive, I execute better. That’s kind of what we figured out the last few outings.”
He was perfect through 5⅓ innings. Not until Griffin Conine trotted to first because of a 3-2 curveball, a pitch that missed the zone by about a centimeter, did the Marlins have anything on the 25-year-old. Two pitches later, Nick Fortes lined a double past leaping third baseman José Tena, taking the intimate gathering of 6,156 off no-hitter watch. CJ Abrams’s relay throw home was off target, ending the prospect of a shutout in one fell swoop.
Gore’s fastball, which sat around 97 mph at the start of the year and 94.5 when he lost his mechanics in July, was back up to an electric 96.2 against Miami. He got outs with his slider, curveball and, perhaps most importantly, his change-up, a pitch very much still in development for him. The fiery lefty had a good handle on his emotions, too; after walking Conine, when he pressed his lips together, the expression was closer to a smirk than a scowl.
“I was aggressive with all of [my pitches],” Gore said. “And that team swings a lot, so understand what they’re trying to do, and trying to get them off that. So I thought we did a good job here. It was great.”
His ERA still sits at 4.32, a narrow improvement from his 4.42 mark last year. He still has a few weeks to lower it. If his three most recent starts are a sign, the Nationals’ belief that he can be a future top-of-the-rotation starter on a postseason team could yet be validated.
“We want him to finish up strong going into the winter break and build some confidence with him,” Manager Dave Martinez said. “He’s utilizing all his pitches really well right now, and he’s doing really well.”
In a less positive development, the Nationals’ offense matched the futility of the Marlins for much of the game, managing just three hits, two walks and a whole lot of weak contact in six innings against righty Valente Bellozo.
A chance for the Nationals (62-77) to get back in the game came with the arrival of Miami’s bullpen. In the eighth, Keibert Ruiz walked, Jacob Young singled and Dylan Crews walked to load the bases with no outs, prompting the Marlins (52-87) to bring in Calvin Faucher. Tena worked a 3-2 count and then another walk to put the first run across and Andrés Chaparro hit a chopper to third base that scored Young to tie the game.
Up next came Wood. The 6-foot-6 rookie worked a 3-2 count that included a called strike just outside the zone. He made sure another one wouldn’t get called against him, ripping a low cutter the other way that scored Tena with ease. But the Nationals were held at bay in the ninth and 10th, meaning Derek Law — making his second consecutive appearance two days after he was activated off the injured list — was handed the loss despite allowing just a ground out and a single.
“We started not chasing,” Martinez said of the eighth-inning push. “I know we scored three, but we left some runners on base where we should have capitalized on those as well. But for me, the story was MacKenzie.”
