WASHINGTON -- MacKenzie Gore isn’t sugarcoating his abbreviated three-inning start against the Athletics on Tuesday.
“Not good,” Gore said after the Nationals’ 16-7 loss. “It was bad. What, I gave up eight runs? It’s kind of the only way to put it -- that it was bad.”
The punchout-dominant lefty recorded zero strikeouts for the first time in his career. He allowed eight runs on 12 hits (two home runs) and one walk over 60 pitches.
“Typically, I throw the ball over the plate when I’m good and bad,” said Gore. “But there were some balls over the middle of the plate, and they hit them hard. No swing-and-miss tonight, and they were on everything. I’m sure some of that was location, but they hit everything.”
The Nationals lost their sixth game in a row. They have allowed 70 runs during that skid. Since returning home after the Trade Deadline, the Nats have been outscored by 33 runs (54-21) in their last four games against the Brewers and A’s.
“This is embarrassing,” Gore said. “We shouldn’t just try to act like nothing happened here. What’s happened in this homestand is not acceptable. No matter what happened last week, we’re all better than this. This is embarrassing. We’ve got to be able to not let it affect everybody. We’ve got to be able to come together as a group and get better. But yeah, what happened this homestand, it’s hard to watch.”
Gore entered the game ranked third among NL starters with a 10.8 strikeout rate and fifth in total strikeouts. In an All-Star season in which he struck out a historic 13 batters on Opening Day against the Phillies, he has totaled 10 strikeouts in his last four outings, including Tuesday.
“We’ve made a little mess here the last couple weeks,” Gore said. “So it’s been frustrating. We’re all frustrated. This has got to the point where we’re better than this. We’ve just got to make the adjustments, something needs to change. Like I said, they were on everything tonight. So we’ve got to figure out why are we getting predictable or what that is. We didn’t walk anybody tonight, which something that typically when I pitch bad, that’s what happens. Tonight was just, they hit it.”
Gore’s first inning was marked by two home runs and a quick 5-0 deficit. His outing began with a 402-foot leadoff homer to Shea Langeliers, who belted three on the night.
Five batters and only one out later, Gore allowed a 400-foot, two-run home run to Darell Hernaiz. He faced the entire A’s order (two singles, two doubles, two homers) before ending the opening frame.
The Nationals made five calls to the bullpen to cover the remaining innings.
Gore was limited to 2 1/3 innings three starts ago on July 20 against the Padres. In that game, Gore surrendered eight runs off eight hits (two homers), three walks and two strikeouts across 75 pitches.
This was Gore’s second time facing the Athletics. He fanned 11 batters in five scoreless innings on April 13, 2024, at the Oakland Coliseum.
“There’s going to be some type of adjustment,” Gore said. “... We’re going to figure out why it happened, but this one is over and we can’t change it, unfortunately. We’ve got to move on to the next one.”