Soroka finds rhythm, tosses season-best 6 innings

WASHINGTON – The process for finding a consistent rhythm in Michael Soroka’s fourth start back from injury is gaining momentum.

The right-hander was able to provide the Nationals bullpen with welcomed rest by firing a season-high six innings in a 3-2 loss to the San Francisco Giants Sunday at Nationals Park.

Soroka (1-3) fired 91 pitches, 59 for strikes and held the Giants to five hits with one walk and two strikeouts. It was his longest outing since April 4, 2024, while pitching for the White Sox at Kansas City.

The veteran missed the entire month of April rehabbing a right biceps strain, returning May 7 against the Guardians. In his third start back last week, Soroka notched his first win since July 2023 in a 10-4 win at Baltimore.

Then Sunday – despite allowing three runs early including a Sam Huff solo homer – Soroka kept mixing his fastball, slurve and sinker to retire nine of the final 11 batters faced.

“One thing that [pitching strategist Sean] Doolittle and [pitching coach Jim] Hickey have talked to him about is 'don't overthink [it], just stick to the process and everything will be okay,” Nationals manager Dave Martinez said before the game. “Because he sometimes will start overthinking sequences. His stuff is so good that he doesn't have to do that."

The Giants hit the ball hard in the third against Soroka. Huff’s homer was followed by Mike Yastrzemski’s triple off the wall in left field and Wilmer Flores' double to center, plating two runs.

"You got to minimize innings like the third when there's a couple things going on and you're just not quite finding it,” Soroka said. “It's about minimizing damage and that's something that lacked in the last few starts. Next time out we will piece it all together and we will be back here talking about how good it was."

After the hiccup in the third, Soroka induced weak contact, recording nine groundouts on the day.

“Just the location of his fastball,” Martinez said. “I know he is throwing his sinker less but when he throws it, it is effective. He is getting a little more vertical [movement] on his fastball which is great. But his change is what really gets the ground balls. He's throwing it really well. His curveball he has been throwing really well as well.”

Despite the loss, the Nationals starters pitched well through six frames in the final two games of the series against the Giants. Right-hander Jake Irvin went a season-high eight full innings in Saturday’s 3-0 win.

Nationals pitching surrendered just three runs over the final 19 innings of the three-game set, going 3-2 on the homestand.

Relievers Brad Lord and Cole Henry combined for three scoreless innings to finish Sunday.

With closer Kyle Finnegan resting due to shoulder fatigue, having the starters eat up 14 innings on Saturday and Sunday benefits the staff before a tough series against the AL West-leading Mariners.

The Nationals were unable to solve Giants starter Robbie Ray. But they did find a way to make Giants closer Ryan Walker sweat in the ninth.

CJ Abrams doubled to lead off and James Wood’s double to left-center field cut the deficit to one.

With Wood at second base and the count full versus Walker, Lowe’s line drive deep into the left-field corner dropped just foul. Walker then got Lowe to strike out swinging on a 98 mph fastball and Alex Call flied out to right to end the game.

“That's a good team,” Call said. “They have some good pitching. I thought we played well. I'd love to have made a few more plays out there today. I'm sure all of us feel the exact same way. But overall we are riding positive momentum into the road trip."