How Gray can earn his elusive first big league win (with Rizzo quote)

Wins and losses don't really point to the successes and failures of a starting pitcher. So many things can happen throughout the course of a game that are out of the pitchers' control, it wouldn't be fair to judge them on their record alone. There are other numbers that tell a better story.

That being said, wins and losses aren't totally meaningless to pitchers. And for a young hurler, earning his first victory is an important milestone.

For Josiah Gray, the new face of the Nationals' rebuild, that first win has been hard to achieve. In 10 major league appearances (nine starts), Gray is 0-2 with seven no-decisions as a starter.

Tonight, he'll make his ninth start with the Nationals. He pitched well enough to possibly be in line for a victory in each of his first five starts, going at least five innings and giving up three earned runs or fewer in each outing. But Gray has struggled in each of his last three starts, giving up six, six and five runs with a high number of walks and home runs.

What's the recipe for him to turn things around tonight against the Rockies and give himself a chance to be the winning pitcher? That's something Gray and pitching coach Jim Hickey have worked on leading up to this start.

"Yeah, him and Hickey, they talked a lot about, they tweaked his mechanics a little bit," manager Davey Martinez said during his pregame Zoom session with reporters. "Hopefully, he can get the ball down. He's got to work down in the zone. He can elevate on purpose when he wants to. But for the most part, his fastball is better. He's got to work it down and we're hoping that that transpires into him not missing so much arm-side."

Those mechanical tweaks are aimed to help Gray throw more strikes so as not to walk too many batters and, hopefully, keep the ball in the yard. The right-hander has issued 10 free passes over his last three outings and has surrendered at least one home run in every major league outing of his career.

"Josiah, we talked a lot about just the offside misses and getting him in the strike zone, being aggressive in the strike zone," Martinez said. "Being able to throw his fastball on both sides of the plate for strikes. So hopefully, he can do that today."

Part of that recipe's responsibility falls on the sous chef, if you will, catcher Keibert Ruiz. This will be the third time the two rookies and top Nationals prospects will work together in Washington. And a lot of the work happens behind the scenes in between starts.

"They talk a lot," Martinez said of his young battery. "Remember this is a new team that's actually been swinging the bat fairly well. So they'll meet. I know they've been talking about it, I know they both watch film. Keibert is a big film guy, he watches a lot of film on other hitters. So they'll sit down at six o'clock and do their meeting and they'll go over each hitter and then, hopefully, that will transpire to the game. But I mean both of these guys, I'm very impressed on the work they put in, Josiah in between starts, and Keibert learning the hitters in this league and how quickly he responds to the game in progress on what he does and talking to him during the game, (getting) his thoughts. It's pretty impressive."

That's all easier said than done, right? Just formulate a game plan, throw strikes, don't give up walks or longballs, earn the win.

Not so fast.

Martinez knows it's a process for his young pitcher and catcher. And that process requires a lot of patience from the manager and coaching staff.

"We definitely need a lot of patience," Martinez said with a smile. "It's something that definitely has come with this job. But you know what? I just see, like I said before, I do see guys getting better. ... But he's learning. They're all learning. We got to stick to the process. It is a process. So I'm looking forward to those guys going out there today."

* General manager Mike Rizzo spoke publicly for the first time since the trade deadline today at Nationals Park. Well, sort of.

The Nationals hosted their annual Q&A session with season ticket holders during batting practice, hosted by Dan Kolko and featuring a few coaches and players as they finished up their pregame workouts.

Near the end of the event, Rizzo stepped up to the microphone, and although he didn't field any questions and was not made available to the local media, he delivered this message to the fans:

"You truly are the backbone of this franchise in this organization. The season ticket holders are what it's all about. The most supportive fans that we have in the ballpark each and every night. I really appreciate the support that you've had throughout the year, including '19, when we won the World Series. But more importantly, in 2021 when we're going in a little bit of a reboot and get things going in that direction. Believe me, nobody wants to win more than Mike Rizzo does. So we're going to do everything we can to put this thing around quickly and get us back in the championship class. And the core players that you're seeing right now are going to be the core of the next championship club with the Washington Nationals. So thank you for your patience, support, and let's enjoy the last couple of games, watching these good young players play extremely hard, trying to make a name for themselves. Trying to be the next Anthony Rendon and Trea Turner and Max Scherzer. You're seeing them at their infancy right now, but you're also gonna see them place a trophy some day. So thank you very much and God bless you and thank you for your support."