Gore's dominant bounce-back outing bolstered by Nats' hot hitting

SAN FRANCISCO -- When he’s on his game, MacKenzie Gore has the stuff of a true staff ace on the mound.

But the Nationals left-hander entered Sunday’s finale against the Giants in a second-half freefall, 0-4 with a 13.21 ERA in his previous four starts.

Seeking a bounce-back from an especially tough outing on Tuesday at Nationals Park – allowing 12 hits and eight earned runs to the Athletics in three innings, with zero strikeouts – Gore rebounded in grand fashion in the Nats’ 8-0 victory, securing a series win for the Nationals with six scoreless innings.

Reflective of how in control Gore was on the day, his 10 strikeouts were his first double-digit strikeout performance since April 19 in Colorado, and secured his 10th career start with at least 10 strikeouts. His 10.77 K/9 rate is third in the National League.

Gore also coaxed 21 swings-and-misses, tied for the fifth-most whiffs in a single start in his career and tied for second most in a start this season.

“That’s him,” said interim manager Miguel Cairo of Gore. “That’s what you get for a No. 1. It was awesome to see him come back and perform the way he normally does.”

“Feels good,” Gore said, crediting some adjustments paying off. “I’ll sleep tonight, which will be great.”

Gore allowed the Giants only three hard-hit balls, relying on an arsenal of pitches, mostly his four-seamer (30 pitches), curve (21) and slider (18).

“That's part of not being predictable,” Gore said. “You try to get all four. It's just tough on the hitters.”

Also tough on the Giants was the Nats’ offensive attack. Washington peppered Justin Verlander for 11 hits and five runs in the first four frames, highlighted by a suddenly resurgent James Wood (two-run double) and CJ Abrams (two-run homer off the right-field foul pole). All of Washington’s runs on the day came with two outs.

The Nationals secured their fourth straight series victory at Oracle Park, a ballpark in which the club has not dropped a series since 2021.

Cairo spoke all series long about “doing the little things,” and the last two games backed up the skipper’s emphasis.

“This is what we're talking about,” Cairo said. “You’ve got to pick your teammate up. … When you play like that, you know you're going to get good results.”

The top of the Nationals’ order wreaked havoc on Giants pitchers on Saturday and Sunday, a central reason they took the series. The top four hitters – Wood, Abrams, Josh Bell and Paul DeJong – collected nine extra-base hits over the two games.

Wood’s RBI double in the seventh came on a changeup. It was his first hit on an offspeed pitch since June 28, capping a resurgent series for the slugger, who hit leadoff on Sunday for the 10th time in his career (all this season) and finished the weekend 5-for-14 (.387) with four doubles, a homer and six RBIs.

“I feel we've all kind of been struggling a little bit of late,” Wood said of himself, Abrams and Gore. “So it was nice to contribute, all three of us, in one game and get a ‘W.’”

“Sometimes you want some adversity on yourself,” reflected Cairo. “That's the way you become the player that you want to be. … Are you going to give up, or are you going to keep going and become better?”

The Nationals (47-70) may be playing with an eye on the future, but they’re just as focused on the rest of 2025, as well.

“We’ve been through a lot,” said Cairo. “Different manager, Trade Deadline, and right now, just to set the tone that that’s how we're going to do things, these guys are being unbelievable.”

DeJong and Bell, who remained with the Nats through the Deadline, are happy to still be there.

“Now we’ve got two great months here with this team to show what we can do and to set ourselves up for next year,” said DeJong, who went 5-for-10 with two doubles in the series.

Bell, who went 6-for-9 with two doubles on the weekend, echoed him.

“You can never take any game for granted in the big leagues,” Bell said. “So whether I'm here or somewhere else, I'm always thankful to have an opportunity to play.

“But not getting that call … the last 10 minutes of the Deadline, my wife and I were kind of just looking at each other hoping that the phone didn't ring.

“It worked out for us. Hopefully I can finish strong and continue to teach these young bucks how to play."