Gore pitches 7 sparkling innings as the Nationals beat the Cubs 5-1 to stop a 5-game slide originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
STATS News Services – Story Archive
Gore pitches 7 sparkling innings as the Nationals beat the Cubs 5-1 to stop a 5-game slide
CHICAGO (AP) — MacKenzie Gore struck out nine in seven sparkling innings, and the Washington Nationals beat the Chicago Cubs 5-1 on Saturday.
Joey Gallo hit a three-run homer for Washington, which had dropped five in a row. José Tena had three of the Nationals’ 12 hits.
Washington played without All-Star shortstop CJ Abrams, who was demoted to the minors earlier in the day. Abrams isn’t expected to play for the big league team again this season.
“I just want it to be known, it wasn’t performance-based — it’s an internal issue,” manager Dave Martinez said. “I’m not going to give specifics or talk about specifics because I need to keep these guys and everything on the down low. … I’m going to support CJ. He’s a big part of our Nats family, and he will be. At this point, for me, it’s the right thing to do.”
Gore (10-12) earned his second straight win. The 25-year-old left-hander was working on a no-hitter before Patrick Wisdom connected for his eighth homer with one out in the seventh inning.
“His tempo was really good today,” Martinez said of Gore. “It looked like he slowed everything down and just was really attacking the strike zone. All of his stuff was electric. He pitched really well today.”
Gallo said Gore has “elite stuff,” and praised the pitcher for his work ethic.
“A lot of guys come to the ballpark, they see it as a job and whatnot, but MacKenzie really loves coming to the ballpark and just playing the game of baseball and being the best that he can be,” Gallo said. “He had little hiccups there in the middle of the year, but (it’s a) long year, and it says a lot for him to be able to get over that and be pitching well here at the end.”
Jose Ferrer got three outs before Kyle Finnegan finished the two-hitter for the Nationals, who improved to 1-5 against the Cubs this year.
Chicago right-hander Kyle Hendricks (4-12) allowed four runs and nine hits in 5 1/3 innings in what might have been his last home start at Wrigley Field. Hendricks, who helped the Cubs win the 2016 World Series, is eligible for free agency after this season.
“Kind of excited just to take a step back, get away from baseball for a minute,” Hendricks said. “Refocus, re-evaluate…