Gore finishes strong, Nats bring the lumber late to top Phillies (updated)

The Nationals want MacKenzie Gore to be the ace of their next winning team. MacKenzie Gore wants to be the ace of the Nationals’ next winning team.

To get there, the left-hander knows he needs to find a level of consistency that has heretofore eluded him in two full big league seasons. But if he can bottle up what he did over the last six weeks of this season – and especially what he did in the last of his six scoreless innings today – he’s got an awfully good chance of realizing his full potential.

With strikeouts of Kyle Schwarber, Trea Turner and Bryce Harper, Gore concluded his 32nd and final start of 2024 with a flourish. And though the final innings of today’s 6-3 win over the Phillies would feature plenty more drama – Turner’s game-tying homer off Jose A. Ferrer, a jawing match between Harper and Ferrer that prompted benches and bullpens to empty, Keibert Ruiz’s go-ahead single scoring James Wood, Joey Gallo’s three-run homer for good measure – none of that should overshadow the significance of Gore’s performance.

"Here's a guy who can win 18-20 games for us," said manager Davey Martinez, whose team matched last year's total with its 71st win. "When he's in the strike zone, he's really good. Today, he proved that."

The last two innings of this game, played before a bipartisan, sellout crowd of 38,135, had plenty of action (and offense) after a classic pitchers’ duel between Gore and Zack Wheeler.

Turner’s two-run homer off Ferrer in the top of the eighth tied the game. Moments later, Harper and Ruiz had words two pitches before Ferrer struck him out to end the inning. As Ferrer stared at the former Nationals star, Harper shouted back "What the (expletive) are you looking at?" which prompted both benches and bullpens to empty.

Ruiz said it all started when Harper seemed to get upset at him for framing the earlier pitch, seeking a called strike: "He tried to talk to me, like: 'Throw the ball back! You've been trying to move the ball!' I didn't see that good. He's got to do his job. I've got to do my job. He doesn't have to talk to me like that."

Asked if he thinks he's become more of a leader in those situations this year, Ruiz (who also had words with the Padres' Jurickson Profar in June) said: "I just feel like, I don't care who you are. I know he's a really good player. He can be a Hall of Famer. But if you don't respect me, I won't respect you."

The Nats would get the last laugh on the field. Wood, who already homered off Wheeler in the sixth, tripled to lead off the eighth, then scored on Ruiz’s RBI single to center. Gallo then put the final stamp on the victory with his third three-run homer in nine days as the majority of the crowd celebrated while pockets of Phillies fans made a beeline for the exits.

"I feel like with the benches clearing, there was a little energy going back and forth between both of us," Wood said. "I just felt like we were playing off the crowd, playing off that and just trying to compete."

Late excitement aside, the biggest story here was the ace-like performance by Gore against a vaunted lineup, one that is gearing up for a deep October run. And it underscored how much the Nationals have been hoping for a frontline starter to emerge throughout this rebuild process.

On this day, Gore nearly became the Nats’ first 11-game winner since 2019. He did become their first pitcher to finish with a 3.90 ERA in 20 or more starts since 2019. And he did become their first pitcher with 181 strikeouts in a season since 2019. (Sense a recurring theme here?)

"I thought it was solid," he said. "A career-high in innings. A career-high in strikeouts. I still think there's some room for improvement. We went through a tough stretch, and we were able to get through it."

The Nationals need this kind of performance today from Gore, because he was going up against one of the most accomplished starters in the league, one who bolstered his own case for a Cy Young Award. Wheeler flummoxed an inexperienced Nationals lineup that couldn’t even advance a runner to second base through the first five innings against the Phillies right-hander, who finished his season with a 2.57 ERA and 200 innings pitched.

The Nats got a two-out single from Ruiz in the first and a two-out walk from Gallo in the second. Neither turned into anything remotely resembling a rally. They may have had something going in the fifth when Dylan Crews (moved down to the No. 6 spot in the lineup) drew a leadoff walk and thought he had swiped second. But Jacob Young was called for batter’s interference, forcing Crews back to first. Then Young grounded into a double play on the next pitch, foiling that opportunity.

So, Gore had to be pristine on this afternoon to keep up with Wheeler. And he absolutely was, posting six straight zeroes on the board and likewise never letting an opposing runner reach second base.

Gore had everything working today, but his breaking balls especially were untouchable. The Phillies swung at 10 of his curveballs, fouling off two and whiffing at seven. They swung at six of his sliders, fouling off one and whiffing at four.

"I thought I had a good mix, had a good game plan going in," he said. "We faced these guys a lot. So I know them. They've seen me a lot. I thought we did a good of executing when we needed to."

The biggest whiffs of all came at the end of his start. Given the opportunity to face the top of the Philly lineup a third time, Gore blew them all away. He struck out Schwarber with an 0-2 curveball. He struck out Turner with a 3-2 curveball. And he struck out Harper with a 3-2 slider, drawing a roar from the large crowd as he took a moment to look around the park before walking off the mound for the final time in 2024.

"He did that in a way where he left a mark," Martinez said. "Like: 'I got this. This is who I am. Here we go.' It was a good way to finish the game."

This, of course, was merely the last in a string of excellent starts for Gore down the stretch of what ultimately was an inconsistent season. Owner of a 2.91 ERA at the end of May, he saw that number climb as high as 4.66 in mid-August. But beginning with a dominant six innings in Atlanta on Aug. 23, the lefty rediscovered the best version of himself.

Over his final seven starts, Gore produced a 1.55 ERA and 45 strikeouts in 40 2/3 innings. And because of that, he finished his season with a 3.90 ERA, besting Josiah Gray’s 3.91 mark from a year ago.

"He can be a No. 1 guy in the big leagues," Ruiz said.

And thanks to Wood’s offensive heroics in the bottom of the sixth, Gore found himself in line to become the Nationals’ first 11-game winner since that glorious 2019 season. The rookie outfielder struck out in each of his first two at-bats against Wheeler. He hung in there, though, and the most of a fastball over the plate in his third at-bat, driving it the other way for his ninth big league homer and a 2-0 lead on a day that included plenty of big moments.

"I was just able to learn from the first two," Wood said. "I had to make an adjustment, was just trying to put one in play. I was able to get a good fastball and I was able to do that."