Going into MacKenzie Gore’s 30th start of the 2024 campaign, Nationals’ manager Davey Martinez told reporters he wanted to see the southpaw continue to build on what he has been able to do when successful on the mound this season.
“Just attacking the strike zone, competing, pitch efficiency,” Martinez stressed. “I’d like for him to get through the day with about 90 pitches, maybe six innings would be great. But we’ll see how he goes out there today.
“As we all talk about, he’s got electric stuff, it’s about pounding the strike zone.”
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Leadoff and one-out walks and a 31-pitch first, (in which he did strike out two batters), made it look like Gore might not go as deep as Martinez hoped, but he was efficient from there in what ended up being a six-inning, 93-pitch outing in which he gave up two hits, and only an unearned run, walking the two in the opening frame and no more the rest of the game, with five strikeouts from the 22 batters he faced.