WASHINGTON -- When MacKenzie Gore’s pitch count climbed to 37 by the end of the first inning, the length of his start against the Phillies on Friday was uncertain.
The southpaw locked in, faced the minimum over the next three innings and completed six frames on a total of 91 pitches to limit the NL East leaders.
“There was an adjustment, obviously,” Gore said after the Nationals' 6-2 loss. “We made it, and we finished strong. I think if you go six and two at 90-whatever pitches -- it was an interesting way to get there. But I think obviously overall against a good team, it was solid.”
Gore held the Phillies scoreless after they plated two runs in the first inning. He finished the night with seven strikeouts and retired 16 of the final 18 batters he faced.
“After the first inning, he was a little off,” said interim manager Miguel Cairo. “All of a sudden, he just turned the machine on. He was making pitches, he was getting ahead in the count, and he just pitched really well after that.”
- First inning (37 pitches): two hits (one double), two walks, two strikeouts, one stolen base, one wild pitch, one hit by pitch
- Second-sixth innings (54 pitches): two hits, no walks, five strikeouts
Gore fell into an early 2-0 hole three batters into the game. He allowed a leadoff single to Trea Turner, who stole second base and advanced to third on a wild pitch. After issuing a walk to Kyle Schwarber, Gore gave up a double to Bryce Harper. Dylan Crews committed a throwing error from right field, and Turner and Schwarber scored.
“How the baserunners were getting on, we just didn’t win a couple pitches in certain counts,” Gore said. “The first [at-bat against Turner, he] got a 2-2 hit, it wasn’t an awful pitch but we didn’t win that pitch. Just understand if we can win a few more pitches that we’ll be fine. We did that the rest of the way.”
Following another walk and a hit by pitch, Gore found himself in a bases-loaded jam with one out. Taking a “one pitch at a time” approach, he struck out Edmundo Sosa and Otto Kemp -- the seventh and eighth batters of the inning -- to halt the Phillies' early momentum.
“You go in, figure out why certain things were happening,” said Gore. “When you play long enough, you can do things like that and you’ve just got to figure out how to fix it. We found the key to get us right from the right spot, and we did it.”
Friday was Gore’s third matchup against Zack Wheeler this season. On Opening Day, Gore struck out a historic 13 batters and allowed only one hit in six scoreless innings. They dueled again on April 29, when Gore fanned six but gave up three runs (two homers) in six frames. Gore has a 2.50 ERA and 26 strikeouts in three starts against the Phillies this season.
“It’s a good team,” said Gore. “If you don’t go in ready to go, they’ll beat you up.”
The Nats, meanwhile, chased Wheeler after five innings and 97 pitches. Rookie Daylen Lile -- who grew up watching Wheeler compete in the postseason and played with him in MLB The Show -- hit his third career home run in the fourth inning. The Nats scored two runs off four hits and two walks with six strikeouts against Wheeler.
“Just see the right pitches on our pitches, on our hot zone, and just make him work,” said Lile. “He’s a really good pitcher -- he pounds the zone, doesn’t want to give up walks, so we just had to stay within our approach.”