MIAMI — The Washington Nationals had plenty of things working in their favor Tuesday night at LoanDepot Park. There were the 5⅔ solid innings from Patrick Corbin, a three-run homer from Joey Gallo and three-plus scoreless innings of stout work from the bullpen in a 6-2 win over the Miami Marlins that halted a three-game slide.
Embedded in the details of game No. 138 of 162, one that was played before an intimate gathering of 6,854 in a place that holds more than 37,000, was an impressive performance from catcher Keibert Ruiz. Was his 3-for-4 night jaw-dropping? No — but in the midst of a 62-76 season, it was the type of display that can reaffirm why the Nationals have hitched themselves to their 26-year-old catcher until 2032.
Behind the plate, Ruiz’s glove darted from the edge of the zone to the middle for called third strikes. At the plate, two of his three hits registered among the hardest pieces of contact (a 105.3-mph double and 106.4-mph single) that Ruiz had made since the first series of the season.
“For me with him, it’s about just being consistent,” Manager Dave Martinez said. “He’s got to learn from what he did today and focus on doing that tomorrow. ... We all know he’s got unbelievable bat-to-ball skills. I think he thinks he could hit every ball hard, you know, but he needs to understand the strike zone a little better.”
Ruiz has an exceptional ability to put his bat on the ball, with a whiff and strikeout rate that puts him among the top 1 percent of MLB hitters. The three biggest knocks on Ruiz heading into the season were his swing decisions, the quality of his contact and his inability to frame those sorts of called third strikes.
“Feeling good, swinging at my pitches, not trying to do too much, that’s got to be the next part for me,” Ruiz said. “Keep that plan and keep being consistent.”
The better his swing decisions, the better his contact. Against the Marlins, he did his damage on a high change-up and two low sliders, all pitches in the zone. After Tuesday’s win, Ruiz is hitting .222 with a .616 OPS, both appreciably lower than his 2023 marks. His pitch-framing, however, has blossomed since Aug, 1, ranking 13th of 64 catchers, per TruMedia.
The Nationals also view his pitch-calling as an area of development, especially for such a young staff. Handling the lefty Corbin, a 35-year-old veteran, his sequencing was on point.
“He’s somebody that’s willing to work on receiving and blocking and things like that, and game-calling, a lot of things that go unnoticed,” Corbin said. “But as a staff, we see it.”
Of course, every team looks a little better against the Marlins (51-87) — and the Nationals improved to 8-0 against their division rivals. Production came as much from their stopgap veterans as it did from their young franchise pillars. Corbin allowed seven hits, two runs and three walks with eight strikeouts, the lone runs plated on Connor Norby’s fifth-inning double and Cristian Pache’s sixth-inning double. The Nationals already had a 4-0 lead by the time Norby put Miami on the board.
Washington started the scoring in the third, when Jacob Young singled home Ruiz, who opened the inning with a double. After Andrés Chaparro hit his eighth double and James Wood collected his 29th walk, Gallo crushed a three-run home run to center field in the fourth, his first blast since June 3. That was good for a 4-0 lead; Ruiz’s sixth-inning homer, his 13th, made it 5-1.
“I really believe Keibert’s a 20-, 25-home run guy, and we’ve seen a little bit of it last year,” Martinez said. “Just putting the ball in play for him hard — you’re going to see that come out of him. It’s all about the chase with him. It really is. So just focus on swinging at strikes, and he’s going to be okay.”
The young talent that’s arrived from Rochester in recent weeks has tended to make Ruiz a bit of a secondary character in this latest phase of the Nationals’ rebuild. But Ruiz is a pillar not just in their young lineup, but also for their young staff, making every time he can fool a home plate umpire (as he did four times against Miami) or handle the other responsibilities of a franchise catcher all the more valuable.
“All the team is really young,” Ruiz said, when asked about those responsibilities. “I have to do it for me, for my teammates, for my pitchers. If they are good, I’m good too. I always want the best for them.”
Notes: The Nationals activated right-handed reliever Derek Law off the 15-day injured list before Tuesday’s game. The 33-year-old has been a workhorse with Washington and will get eased back into a high-usage role, Martinez said. He tossed a scoreless eighth against Miami. …
Cade Cavalli, 26, joined the team in Miami and threw 20 to 25 fastballs in his first bullpen session since experiencing “dead arm” in late June, topping out at 93 mph. The righty underwent Tommy John surgery in March 2023 and had an initial target return toward the middle of this season. …
Righty Mason Thompson (Tommy John surgery in March) was also with the team and said he expects to begin throwing at some point in October. The 26-year-old said there haven’t been any complications or setbacks, and he feels stronger than he was before surgery.
