For the first time this season, the Nationals are adjusting the order of the top of their starting rotation, giving MacKenzie Gore an extra day of rest prior to his next outing.
Jake Irvin will now start Tuesday night’s series opener against the Cardinals in St. Louis, a standard five days after the right-hander pitched Thursday against the Tigers. That bumps Gore to Wednesday night’s game at Busch Stadium, a full week following his most recent start last Wednesday against Detroit.
Gore has pitched in front of Irvin throughout the season, beginning with Opening Day, and has firmly established himself as the staff ace. But on the heels of an outing in which he had to extend himself more than usual, manager Davey Martinez thought it would be a good time to give the lefty more time than usual to recover.
“He threw 111 pitches the last outing,” Martinez said. “So this gives him an extra day to kind of recuperate a little bit.”
The swap also puts Gore in a better position to pitch in the All-Star Game, if he’s selected. (The official roster announcement is coming later this afternoon.) If Gore stayed on turn and started Tuesday, he would line up to start again next Sunday in Milwaukee in the second-half finale. Major League Baseball rules prohibit players who pitch on that day to appear in the All-Star Game two days later.
Thus, Gore would now remain eligible to pitch in the July 15 Midsummer Classic in Atlanta, provided he gets through Wednesday’s game with no issues.
Michael Soroka will still start Thursday night, the third game of the series against the Cardinals. The Nationals haven’t yet announced plans for next weekend’s series in Milwaukee, but Mitchell Parker, Shinnosuke Ogasawara (who makes his major league debut today) and Irvin are expected to start those three games heading into the All-Star break.
* CJ Abrams is getting a rare day off this afternoon.
With Red Sox ace Garrett Crochet on the mound, Martinez opted to sit several of his left-handed bats, including Abrams and second baseman Luis Garcia Jr. So far this season, Crochet is holding lefties to a paltry .176 batting average and .505 OPS.
This is Abrams’ first day off since June 8, when he sat for a series finale against Rangers left-hander Jacob Latz. It’s only his second day off since he returned from a brief stint on the 10-day injured list April 24.
“I really wanted to give CJ today off, so he has tomorrow off and has two days before rebounding back (Tuesday in St. Louis),” Martinez said. “But as I always tell you, this is kind of a half-day. Those guys have to be ready to come into the game at any time to try to help us win a game.”