On Gore's first start, Crews' consistency, Adams' slam and García's illness

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – MacKenzie Gore entered spring training as the presumed Opening Day starter for the Nationals. Patrick Corbin is no longer here and Josiah Gray is going to miss at least the first half of the season due to injury.

So the 26-year-old left-hander with electric, albeit inconsistent stuff is a likely choice to take the ball for the regular season opener against the Phillies.

First, he had to make the first of his handful of Grapefruit League starts Saturday in a 7-0 win over the Marlins at CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches. Gore was originally scheduled to start last weekend’s spring opener, but his debut was pushed back so he could build up and go multiple innings against an actual opponent.

“Yeah, it was good,” Gore said after his outing. “It was good to finally get back out here. So yeah, I felt good.”

Gore completed three shutout innings with two hits, one walk, four strikeouts and one wild pitch. The free pass came against the Marlins’ first batter of the game, Xavier Edwards, and Gore issued first-pitch balls to three other batters over the course of the night as well. But once the southpaw settled in, he looked like his usual self getting some ugly swings against some nasty pitches.

“You never want to do that,” Gore said of the first-pitch balls. “But it had been a while since I was on a mound. But we figured it out. Sometimes you're just gonna throw a ball here and there. We didn't panic or anything. We just kind of got back in counts. I thought it was fine. I thought for March 1, it was solid.”

“He was amped up in the first inning and he settled in really well,” manager Davey Martinez said. “His stuff was crisp, which was awesome to see. The last couple of innings, it was 15 and 13 pitches. So it was awesome. He had a good day.”

Gore is never one to give up too much insight on what he’s working on or how he’s planning to attack hitters. That’s especially true in spring training and even more so after his first start.

“It's not like I'm necessarily going out there and working on a new pitch,” he said. “You want to compete. You gotta figure out what sequences are going to work and stuff like that. But we're not trying a new pitch or things like that. But look, you don't want anybody to hit. When you're in there, you're competing, just like anything. So you still gotta compete, for sure.”

When asked what he takes away from a spring start like this, Gore just focuses on the process. A process that took another step on March 1 toward a possible Opening Day start on March 27.

“You just kind (keep doing) what you've been doing,” he said. “You know, it's March 1. We were able to get through three innings and we threw, I think, 10 or 11 more than we threw last time. And so just kind of building up a workload. It's always nice to miss bats and stuff. But yeah, just kind of keep doing what we've been doing. This is kind of how you get ready for the season.”

“It's all about pounding the strike zone with him,” Martinez said. “His stuff is really good. His stuff is electric. But he's got to get the ball in the zone. We talk about it all the time, right? It's north and south with him. He can't miss east to west. When he does that, he's very, very effective. Very efficient.”

* Dylan Crews, who has steadily had a great camp so far, had a big night at the plate Saturday against Miami.

He hit an opposite-field RBI single to give the Nats a 1-0 lead in the third, his fifth hit of spring. Then he drove in another run with a single up the middle in the fourth. He also scored a run.

Crews has at least one hit in each of his five games.

“He's not trying to do a whole lot,” Martinez said. “He's staying more in the middle of the field. Two really, really good at-bats with runners in scoring position, which we love. And like I said, he's just trying to work the ball in the middle of the field. The pull side will come. I really love where he's at right now in his at-bats. He's really trying to stay on top of the ball. And again, really trying to hit the ball out in front of the plate instead of behind. He's had a good spring.”

* Riley Adams unloaded on a baseball to cap off a six-run fourth inning last night. His first home run of the spring was a no-doubt grand slam over the visiting bullpen in left field.

“That ball was crushed. It was loud. Good,” Martinez said. “We've been talking about – the pitch before that, he swung on a ball up and he fouled it back. Before we'd see him miss that ball. He couldn't really catch up to that ball. So to me, that was a good sign. I just looked at (hitting coach Darnell Coles) and said, 'Hey, that's awesome. But now, if he can get the ball down a little bit, lay off those pitches up, man, he'll be on time, he'll do some damage.’ And sure enough, the ball was a little further down and he crushed it.”

* Luis García Jr. was a last-minute scratch from last night’s game due to an illness that includes a sore throat and fever.

“He was sick,” Martinez said. “A little throat thing, a little high fever. So I told him to stay home.”

The skipper said the Nats don’t know when they expect García back.

“We don't know. We'll see how he feels tomorrow,” Martinez said. “I don't want him to pass it along with a fever like that. I don't want him out here.”