Parker makes good impression to remain in rotation with strong start

WASHINGTON -- With a scheduled off-day on Thursday, the Nationals could have skipped Mitchell Parker's start in the rotation amid his August struggles.

Instead, the Nats wanted to see how Parker -- who had been 0-4 with a 12.00 ERA in five starts this month -- worked through these challenges.

They kept the rotation in order and tabbed the southpaw to start the series opener against the Rays on Friday night at Nationals Park.

“He needs to show us that he can pitch,” interim manager Miguel Cairo said before the game.

Parker bounced back with his first quality start since July 19.

He delivered 6 1/3 innings with six hits allowed (including two home runs), three runs, zero walks and seven strikeouts in the Nationals’ 4-1 loss to the Rays.

“It’s huge,” Parker said of pitching into the seventh inning. “It’s one of the closer games I’ve kept us in in a while.”

In Parker’s 27th start of the season, he pitched the most innings since July 19 (6 IP vs. Padres), gave up the fewest runs since July 26 at Minnesota and recorded his second-most strikeouts of the season (most since 8 on June 18 vs. Rockies). It was also the first game since June 18 that he did not issue a walk.

“He was throwing strikes, he was mixing his pitches well, and it was nice to see him come back and be who he can be,” Cairo said. “It was really good to see that.”

Parker located 62 of his 91 pitches for strikes working with Riley Adams. He mixed his four-seamer (41 pitches), curveball (32 pitches), slider (16 pitches) and splitter (two pitches).

“We worked on [my curveball and slider] a lot in between this start and the last one,” Parker said. “Obviously, the confidence was up with it. We were going to ride it as long as we were being consistent and we were getting good results with it.”

Parker had not allowed less than four runs or last longer than 5 1/3 innings in his first five starts this month. His shortest start of the season came on Aug. 17 at Citizens Bank Park when he exited after just 1 2/3 innings. That day, Parker gave up five runs in the second frame.

On Friday, he kept the Nationals in a game that was separated by one run until the fifth inning.

“He was moving quick, he was doing a great job out there on the mound,” said shortstop CJ Abrams. “It’s easy to play defense when that pace is going like that. I like what he did today.”

Parker looks to turn the page as he enters the final month of the season. Over the next four weeks, he will try to make a strong impression as the Nationals enter their offseason planning for 2026.

“Still a lot to improve on,” Parker said. “But [a] step in the right direction.”