On emotional day, Gore carries no-hitter into seventh to beat Cubs (updated)

CHICAGO – MacKenzie Gore’s emotions already were running high long before he took the mound this afternoon at Wrigley Field.

Gore is close friends with CJ Abrams, the fellow first-round picks of the Padres forever joined at the hip for their inclusion in the August 2022 blockbuster that sent Juan Soto and Josh Bell to San Diego. Now, here was the 25-year-old left-hander preparing to face the Cubs while his 23-year-old shortstop was preparing to head to West Palm Beach for the season’s final week as part of his disciplinary demotion by the club.

How would Gore channel all that emotion today? As well as the Nationals could possibly have hoped.

Carrying a no-hitter into the seventh inning, Gore thoroughly dominated Chicago’s lineup in one of the best performances of his career, leading the Nats to a 5-1 victory on a sun-splashed Saturday at the Friendly Confines that was played under less-than-normal circumstances.

"I thought they did really well. We kept it together," said manager Davey Martinez, who held a pregame meeting to inform his players of Abrams' demotion. "They went out there, and it all really started with MacKenzie. MacKenzie got out to a good start, and the guys were just very comfortable.”

The Cubs never came close to recording a clean hit off Gore until Patrick Wisdom launched a misplaced fastball over the left field bleachers with one out in the seventh. He walked three and hit another batter but otherwise was untouchable, striking out nine while throwing only 94 pitches over his seven frames of work.

"You know," he said of his no-hit bid. "You've still got to make a pitch. You're not trying to not give up a hit. But everybody understands what's going on."

It was the kind of performance that will help remind the Nats and the rest of the league Gore still has all the upside in the world to become a staff ace. He pitched like an All-Star in the first half, labored through most of July and August but is now finishing strong with a 1.82 ERA over his last six starts. With one more solid outing next weekend against the Phillies he could finish the season with an ERA under 4.00.

"I think I was really good early in the year, and I could do about whatever I wanted," he said. "And then once I got to where I couldn't necessarily do exactly what I was thinking, I had to find an approach that freed me up. That's what I had to figure out. And I think that's what I've done and found an approach to get my body to not overthink things. We've done a good job of that the last few outings."

Gore was locked in right from the outset today, blocking out the Abrams news and retiring the side in the bottom of the first on 10 pitches while striking out three of the first four batters he faced. He would graze Michael Busch with a 3-2 curveball in the second but immediately erased that baserunner with a 4-6-3 double play. And by the time he walked off the mound at the end of the fourth, he had faced the minimum while throwing a scant 40 pitches.

The Cubs put two men on base to open the fifth, each via walk, for their most serious offensive threat of the day to that point. Gore calmly responded by inducing another double play out of Nico Hoerner, then blowing away Miguel Amaya on a 97 mph fastball to end the inning.

"I think was an interesting mix. We just went with what was working, and continued to do that ... It's not like I was throwing super-hard today," said Gore, whose fastball averaged 95 mph, down 1 mph from his season mark. "But we were able to get it at the top (of the strike zone) pretty consistently, and it was good."

By the time Gore returned for the bottom of the sixth, he was the proud owner of a 5-0 lead, thanks to a crooked number supplied by his teammates in the top of the inning. The Nats already scored their first runs with some small ball (sacrifice flies by Ildemaro Vargas and Keibert Ruiz). Then they brought out the lumber for a big, game-changing blast.

Joey Gallo, getting the start in the outfield this weekend while Jacob Young deals with a sore left shoulder, greeted reliever Keegan Thompson’s 0-1 cutter with a mighty swing and sent the ball soaring into the right field bleachers for a three-run homer, his second of the series.

It may have come much too late to make much difference on the Nats’ fortunes, or his own, but Gallo can at least some solace knowing he’s contributed some much-needed power here in late September. And that today’s homer helped put his blooming young ace closer to a win.

"It's always nice to hit homers, but MacKenzie was pitching his butt off," Gallo said. "To add some insurance runs for him there, that was nice. We've been searching for a win the last few wins. It's nice to contribute to that."

Gore carried his no-hit bid through the sixth, striking out two more batters and pitching around another walk (his third of the game). He got the first out of the seventh on a grounder to short, though Nasim Nuñez’s throw barely beat a hustling Cody Bellinger down the line.

And then it all came to an end with one swing by Wisdom. Seeing a first-pitch fastball over the heart of the plate, the Cubs designated hitter mashed it 421 feet to left field, clearing the bleachers onto Waveland Avenue as the crowd of 38,819 roared. Gore turned back to the plate, put his hands on his hips for a moment and then got back to work.

"I didn't see it. I didn't even look at it," he said. "It was one of those you knew was gone. But the no-hitter's over, and it's time to try to just get the next hitter out."

Gore did retire the next two batters, then returned to the dugout having thrown seven innings of one-hit ball with nine strikeouts on 94 pitches. He could now take the rest of the afternoon off to process the various emotions he had experienced on an atypical Saturday at the ballpark.

"CJ's family," the lefty said. "We've played together our whole big-league careers. It's a tough situation for me. I'm always going to be (there) for CJ in this situation. It's interesting. It was a tough day hearing that. You care about him, so it was tough. We're close. He's family. And you know, you lose your best player. It's a tough day."