Washington Nationals news & notes: MacKenzie Gore finishes season strong…

Notes and quotes on MacKenzie Gore’s final start of the 2024 campaign…

In his final inning of work in 2024, MacKenzie Gore struck out the side. Kyle Schwarber, Trea Turner, and Bryce Harper went down swinging in a 19-pitch frame against the Phillies which left Gore at 91 pitches total total, with nine Ks from 21 batters faced in six scoreless at home in Nationals Park.

“Striking out the side is always fun, especially when they’re really good hitters like they are,” the 25-year-old left-hander said after a 9-3 win over Philadelphia (in which Gore received no decision).

“Good way to end it.”

“No doubt about it,” manager Davey Martinez said of the way Gore wrapped up his season.

“He wanted to get through that inning. And he did that in a way where he left a mark. Like: ‘Hey, I got this. This is who I am. Here we go.’ And it was a good way to finish the game.”

Gore went into the outing with a 4.04 ERA and a 3.64 FIP in 31 starts, and finished his 32nd of the season with a 3.90 ERA, 3.53 FIP, 181 Ks (9.79 K/9), and 65 walks (3.52 BB/9) in 166 ¹⁄₃ IP.

“I thought it was solid,” Gore said of his third season in the majors. “Career-high in innings.

“Career-high in strikeouts. I still think there’s some room for improvement. And we went through a tough stretch, and we were able to get through it.”

“He should feel really good about himself,” Martinez told reporters after the 2nd of 3 in the season-ending series (for the Nationals).

“We talk about how he’s a perfectionist, he wants everything to be right. He should go home knowing that ‘Hey, I had a really good September, and I finished up strong.’

“If he goes back and looks at videos or mechanics, he should look at what he did this last month and then build from there.

“If we can keep him right there and get him started in the spring like that, he’s going to have some good numbers for us next year.”

He had some really good numbers in his final seven starts this season, with, “… a 1.55 ERA (7 ER/40.2 IP) … the fourth-best ERA in MLB over that span,” as Washington’s PR department’s post game notes highlighted. “He’s struck out 42 batters, posted a 0.91 WHIP, and limited opposing batters to .181 average over that span.”

“I thought we did a really good job the last I don’t know what the number of starts was, but I thought we did a good job,” Gore said.

He struggled for an extended stretch this season, but was able to adjust, and right himself and end on a positive note.

“We were throwing the ball at kind of the middle of the year. It feels good to finish strong, and we were able to get out of it, like we’ve talked about and get some momentum going into next year.”

Geoff Burke-Imagn Images

Martinez said at the start of the season, and the end, he got a glimpse of the pitcher Gore can be at his best.

“Here’s a guy who can win 18-20 games for us. Really can. When he’s in the strike zone, he’s really good. Today, he proved that.”

Gore picked up 24 swinging strikes on Saturday, 16 of them between his fastball (9) and his curve (7), and he got nine called strikes (6 on his FB; 3 on his CB). He issued just three hits and one walk in his six innings of work.

“I thought I had a good mix, had a good game plan going in. We faced these guys a lot,” Gore said.

“So I know them. They’ve seen me a lot. I thought we did a good of executing when we needed to.”

In his last seven starts, Gore got his ERA down from 4.51 to 3.90 on the year.

“I love it,” Martinez said. “He worked really hard to get back, get back in the zone, the strike zone.

“He kept the ball down for the most part, which we talked about with him. His curveball was really effective, but man, his stuff is really electric. It really is.”

“I’m really proud of him though, the way he finished up. That’s a great building block for next year.”