Mark Zuckerman

Game 41 lineups: Nats at Diamondbacks

May 12, 2018, 9:36am

PHOENIX - With two games left to play, the Nationals have already locked up a winning record on this seven-game road trip through San Diego and Arizona. They'd like to do even better than that, though, and today they have an opportunity to take three in a row from the Diamondbacks, owners of the National League's best record to date. Stephen Strasburg takes the mound for this afternoon's game, looking to keep the train rolling after excellent starts the last two nights by Tanner Roark and...

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With Wieters on DL, Severino ready to take over as top catcher

May 11, 2018, 9:39pm

Nationals

With Wieters on DL, Severino ready to take over as top catcher

PHOENIX - For several years, Pedro Severino has been waiting for an opportunity to show the Nationals what he can do catching in the big leagues on a regular basis. And for several years, the Nats have been intrigued at the prospect of Severino playing on a regular basis but unwilling to go all-in on him while trying to contend for a title. They have no choice but to find out now. With Matt Wieters on the disabled list and expected to miss significant time with a strained hamstring, Severino...

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With early escape, Scherzer sets tone in Nationals' latest win

May 11, 2018, 9:12pm

Nationals

PHOENIX - Max Scherzer likes to say that a starter's outings are most defined by his final 15 pitches. And so often that has been the case for the Nationals ace during his remarkable and sustained run of excellence. Sometimes, though, the most important pitches come earlier. Much earlier. As he proved tonight during the Nationals' 3-1 win over the Diamondbacks, Scherzer's first 15 pitches were far more important than his final 15. When Trea Turner led off the game with a home run to left,...

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Scherzer piling up strikeouts and RBIs (Nats win 3-1)

May 11, 2018, 6:47pm

Nationals

Scherzer piling up strikeouts and RBIs (Nats win 3-1)

PHOENIX - Strikeouts may be up across baseball, but Max Scherzer is taking it to levels few ever dreamed of reaching. On the heels of a 15-strikeout performance in his most recent start, Scherzer already has eight of them through three innings tonight against the Diamondbacks. Not that the Nationals ace has been perfect, far from it. He had to pitch out of jams in both the first and second innings, stranding a runner on third base. And he served up a solo homer to David Peralta in the bottom of...

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Wieters placed on 10-day DL, Kieboom promoted (updated)

May 11, 2018, 2:18pm

Nationals

Wieters placed on 10-day DL, Kieboom promoted (updated)

PHOENIX - The Nationals, as expected, placed Matt Wieters on the 10-day disabled list today with a left hamstring strain, though the club has not yet announced what this morning's MRI of the catcher's injured left leg revealed. Wieters hurt himself rounding first base during the top of the second inning of Thursday night's 2-1, 11-inning win over the Diamondbacks, his left leg buckling. Afterward, he said he was hopeful the injury was confined to his hamstring, though the MRI was scheduled...

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Game 40 lineups: Nats at Diamondbacks

May 11, 2018, 2:15pm

Nationals

PHOENIX - It was only a few weeks ago when the Nationals kept needing Max Scherzer to be their stopper and put an end to losing streaks. Now they just want their ace to keep the team rolling while it's playing some exceptional baseball. Tonight the Nationals seek their 11th win in 13 games, a sustained hot streak that has allowed them to move from five games under the .500 mark to three games over. And who better to have on the mound than Scherzer, who comes into this game 6-1 with a 1.74 ERA...

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Doolittle rides bullpen cart, raves about its benefits

May 11, 2018, 12:38am

Nationals

Doolittle rides bullpen cart, raves about its benefits

PHOENIX - It wasn't anywhere close to the most important thing that happened Thursday for the Nationals, paling in comparison to Adam Eaton's ankle surgery, Matt Wieters' hamstring and/or knee injury, Tanner Roark's outstanding seven-inning start, Matt Adams' RBI single in the 11th or the overall bullpen effort that made the Nationals' 2-1 win over the Diamondbacks possible. But it certainly qualified as the most fun moment of the night: Sean Doolittle's entrance for the bottom of the...

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Nats pull out 11-inning win after Wieters suffers injury

May 10, 2018, 10:32pm

Nationals

Nats pull out 11-inning win after Wieters suffers injury

PHOENIX - The day began with news that Adam Eaton had arthroscopic surgery to remove a flap of cartilage causing pain in his left ankle, a procedure that will keep the injured left fielder out for an indeterminate amount of time longer than the month he already has missed. Then came the top of the second, and the latest malady for a Nationals club that has experienced too many of them through the first quarter of the season: Matt Wieters' left leg buckling as he rounded first base on a single,...

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Wieters departs with apparent knee injury (Nats win 2-1 in 11)

May 10, 2018, 6:30pm

Nationals

Wieters departs with apparent knee injury (Nats win 2-1 in 11)

PHOENIX - A Nationals club that already has dealt with long-term injuries to multiple key regulars this season just saw another one go down to a potentially serious injury. Matt Wieters appeared to injure his left knee after taking a wide turn around first base on his second-inning single tonight at Chase Field, leaving a Nats organization woefully thin on catching depth in a possible jam. With one out in the top of the second, Wieters singled through a hole on the left side of the infield made...

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Eaton has surgery to remove cartilage flap from ankle

May 10, 2018, 4:41pm

Nationals

Eaton has surgery to remove cartilage flap from ankle

PHOENIX - A month after losing him to what they hoped was a minor ankle injury, the Nationals finally figured out what exactly was wrong with Adam Eaton. That's the good news. The bad news: It required surgery to figure it out. Eaton had arthroscopic surgery today in Green Bay, Wis., to remove a flap of cartilage that didn't show up in any of the three imaging tests the Nationals gave the outfielder over the last month but was the source of his pain any time he tried to run. General manager...

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Game 39 lineups: Nats at Diamondbacks

May 10, 2018, 2:18pm

Nationals

PHOENIX - To say it's slightly warmer here than it was in San Diego when last we spoke is a mild understatement. It's 104 degrees at the moment - it was 67 degrees at first pitch last night at Petco Park - but the good news is they just closed the massive roof here at Chase Field (which it appears won't be the home of the Diamondbacks for much longer, by the way, but that's a different story). The Nationals come here having taken two of three from the Padres, but they'll face a much...

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On middle relief woes and Harper's chance that never was

May 09, 2018, 9:28pm

Nationals

On middle relief woes and Harper's chance that never was

SAN DIEGO - Some more thoughts, observations and reactions from Wednesday night's 2-1 loss to the Padres before heading to Arizona for a four-game weekend series ... * The Achilles' heel of the Nationals' roster is no secret. It's been on display throughout the season's first month-plus, and it's a carryover from the 2017 season: the middle portion of their bullpen. And it reared its ugly head again during Wednesday's loss. In a 1-1 game, and with Ryan Madson and Brandon Kintzler having...

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With chance to sweep Padres, Nationals lose another close one

May 09, 2018, 8:53pm

Nationals

SAN DIEGO - On a night when Bryce Harper was held out of the lineup for the first time this season, when Gio Gonzalez needed 59 pitches just to get through his first two innings and the Nationals managed only one run off a rookie starter, the mere fact they were in prime position to beat the Padres late was telling. The fact they couldn't take advantage of that position and wound up losing 2-1 also was telling. Unable to get a clutch hit from those who did start and unable to get clean innings...

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Gonzalez up to his old tricks escaping jams (Nats lose 2-1)

May 09, 2018, 6:52pm

Nationals

Gonzalez up to his old tricks escaping jams (Nats lose 2-1)

SAN DIEGO - At this point, there's no sense agonizing when Gio Gonzalez gets himself into early jams and racks up a high pitch count. It may frustrate everyone wearing a Nationals uniform, or rooting for them, but Gonzalez has shown time and again he'll find a way to get out of the trouble with minimal, if any, damage. Gonzalez is up to his old tricks again tonight against the Padres. Despite allowing five batters to reach base in his first two innings, the left-hander posted zeros on the...

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Why Martinez chose tonight to sit Harper for the first time

May 09, 2018, 4:31pm

Nationals

Why Martinez chose tonight to sit Harper for the first time

SAN DIEGO - Bryce Harper joked a few times recently about wanting to be an "Iron Man" and play in all 162 of the Nationals' games this season. Deep down, the star slugger knew that wasn't going to happen. It was only a matter of time before he got a day off. And that day is today. With a left-hander on the mound for the Padres and Harper mired in an 0-for-19 slump, manager Davey Martinez decided to sit him down for tonight's series finale at Petco Park. That decision came only after a pair...

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Game 38 lineups: Nats at Padres

May 09, 2018, 1:44pm

Nationals

SAN DIEGO - It was going to happen eventually. And given the circumstances, tonight made a lot of sense for Bryce Harper to get his first day of the season off. Manager Davey Martinez made the decision to rest Harper, who is on an 0-for-19 slump and now batting only .230 (albeit with a .410 on-base percentage and .951 OPS). With left-hander Joey Lucchesi on the mound for the Padres, this series already captured and a four-game series on tap this weekend against the very good Diamondbacks, this...

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On Harper's slump, Hellickson's stuff and Madson's early usage

May 08, 2018, 10:17pm

Nationals

On Harper's slump, Hellickson's stuff and Madson's early usage

SAN DIEGO - Some more thoughts, observations and reactions after Tuesday night's 4-0 win over the Padres ... * On a night in which all of the Nationals' runs were driven in by guys batting sixth (Matt Adams), seventh (Pedro Severino) or eighth (Jeremy Hellickson, Andrew Stevenson), Bryce Harper again took an oh-fer out of the leadoff spot. With an 0-for-4, two-strikeout game, Harper extended his recent slump to 0-for-19, a stretch during which he has drawn only one walk. He did legitimately...

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Behind gem from Hellickson, Nats win for ninth time in 10 games

May 08, 2018, 9:49pm

Nationals

Behind gem from Hellickson, Nats win for ninth time in 10 games

SAN DIEGO - It's easy to gloss over Jeremy Hellickson in a star-studded Nationals rotation. He doesn't have the stuff to match Max Scherzer or Stephen Strasburg. He doesn't have the wipeout curveball of Gio Gonzalez. He doesn't have the bulldog reputation of Tanner Roark. Here's what Hellickson does have: motivation. After sitting around all winter and the majority of the spring looking for work on the heels of a frustrating 2017 campaign in Philadelphia and Baltimore, the 31-year-old...

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Hellickson dominating Padres at Petco Park (Nats win 4-0)

May 08, 2018, 7:33pm

Nationals

Hellickson dominating Padres at Petco Park (Nats win 4-0)

SAN DIEGO - If Jeremy Hellickson wanted to make sure he gets to face a lineup for the third time, he's sure doing everything he can tonight to keep Davey Martinez in the dugout and the Nationals bullpen quiet. Hellickson has retired the first 15 Padres batters he's faced, cruising through five perfect innings on only 69 pitches. The veteran right-hander, who has pre-emptively been pulled from his last two starts before being allowed to face the opposing lineup a third time through, is making...

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How Matt Wieters has become an elite throwing catcher again

May 08, 2018, 5:28pm

Nationals

How Matt Wieters has become an elite throwing catcher again

SAN DIEGO - Managers will always say a pitcher is more responsible for the opposition's success stealing bases than the catcher who actually makes the throws. If a pitcher can't vary his timing and can't deliver the ball to the plate in short order with a runner on base, the catcher can't do much to make up for lost time, no matter how strong his arm. So a good amount of the credit for the Nationals' success at stopping the running so far this season - they've thrown out 48 percent of all...