Game 113: Nats at Braves
Cade Cavalli and the Nationals look to avoid a four-game sweep in Atlanta
ATLANTA – It may be too late to change the way the front office will approach Monday’s trade deadline, but the Nationals do have one more game to play this afternoon against the Braves. And they should be plenty motivated to salvage at least this one win and avoid a four-game weekend sweep that would drop them to three games under .500 since May 10 (when they were 19-22).
Cade Cavalli gets the ball for this afternoon’s contest, and there are few more-comforting thoughts than that right now. Cavalli remains on the best sustained stretch of his admittedly brief career, going 4-0 with a 2.52 ERA and 6-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio over his last seven starts. He faced the Braves back in April and struck out 10 over five innings without issuing any walks.
Atlanta was forced to call up right-hander JR Ritchie from Triple-A Gwinnett to account for Saturday night’s last-minute pitching change when Reynaldo Lopez injured his knee during warm-ups and Martin Perez was thrown into emergency starting duties. Ritchie made his MLB debut earlier this year against the Nats and gave up homers to James Wood and CJ Abrams but otherwise was spectacular with seven innings of two-run ball.
WASHINGTON NATIONALS at ATLANTA BRAVES
Where: Truist Park
Gametime: 1:35 p.m. EDT
TV: Nationals TV (channel listings)
Radio: 106.7 FM
Weather: Mostly cloudy, 85 degrees, wind 8 mph in from right
NATIONALS
RF James Wood
1B Luis García Jr.
DH José Tena
SS CJ Abrams
CF Dylan Crews
LF Daylen Lile
2B Nasim Nuñez
3B Jorbit Vivas
C Keibert Ruiz
RHP Cade Cavalli
BRAVES
C Drake Baldwin
DH Ronald Acuña Jr.
1B Matt Olson
CF Michael Harris II
2B Ozzie Albies
LF Mauricio Dubón
RF Mike Yastrzemski
3B Austin Riley
SS Jim Jarvis
RHP JR Ritchie
So excited to watch another 4 at bats by Jorbit Vivas! Woohoo!!!
This is a great reminder about how Cade has arrived this year. I remember his limited outings in previous years (and early this year) as a little out of control and wondered if he too would be another first round disappointment. This year as the season has progressed he has clearly become a team leader with his high levels of performance and fire. To me he has elements we saw with Max with his fire and competitiveness - key elements needed for future post season performances. Though the promise of this season has faded recently- there is still a lot to look forward with finding out who can form a more competitive roster next season and hopefully knock off some rival teams while they are at it.