WASHINGTON -- Coming off of his All-Star debut, Nationals southpaw MacKenzie Gore struggled in a start uncharacteristic of his dominant season.
Facing his former team, Gore allowed eight runs off eight hits, three walks, two strikeouts and two home runs -- including a grand slam to Xander Bogaerts -- in just 2 1/3 innings in the Nats’ 8-1 loss to the Padres on Sunday afternoon at Nationals Park.
“I think I was just bad today,” Gore said. “I think it was just more of, I just wasn’t very good. They put the ball in play, they got a lot of hits and they hit two homers, but yeah, I just wasn’t very good.”
Gore tied a career high in runs allowed. He surrendered eight runs twice during his 2022 rookie season as a member of the Padres.
Gore’s outing matched the third shortest of his career. It was his most abbreviated since exactly one year ago, when he exited after two frames against the Reds. He has pitched fewer than three innings in only five of his 92 Major League starts.
“He came out a little wild; [we] took advantage of it,” Bogaerts said. “I think a lot of guys were aggressive. [He] probably wasn't as sharp as he normally is.”
Gore opened the series finale hurling a fastball in the zone that caught Fernando Tatis Jr. swinging. From there, he threw four consecutive balls and put the first runner of the game on base.
A Luis Arraez line-drive single into center field and a Manny Machado seven-pitch walk loaded the bases for Bogaerts with no outs.
“I kind of thought he was going to throw a fastball,” Bogaerts said. “He just walked Manny, so I felt like he wanted to get -- I mean, I take a lot -- so maybe get into the zone and then run to his offspeed.”
On the first pitch, Bogaerts smashed an inside fastball a Statcast-projected 390 feet to left field. It was the third grand slam Gore had allowed (May 5, 2024, to Vladimir Guerrero Jr., and Aug. 23, 2023, to Aaron Judge) in four seasons.
"On that grand slam, knowing they were going to be ready to hit a heater, we went in, we got it in,” Gore said. “But I probably could have understood that he was going to try to open up, get the ball in the air -- and he did it. Yeah, just wasn't very good."
After getting Gavin Sheets to line out to right field for the first out, Gore allowed back-to-back doubles to Jose Iglesias and Jake Cronenworth, resulting in another run scored.
Gore needed 37 pitches to complete the frame, tying his mark for second-most first-inning pitches (May 12, 2023, vs. the Mets). This came one year to the day of throwing a career-high 48 first-inning pitches against the Reds.
“It just seemed like they were definitely trying to be aggressive early,” said catcher Riley Adams. “I think a lot of teams recently have been doing that to MacKenzie, trying to not let him get you to two strikes. They got to some pitches.”
Gore’s afternoon ended in the third inning after allowing a two-run homer to Elías Díaz and falling into an 8-0 hole.
“I was just never really able to get going,” Gore said.
Gore was selected by the Padres with the No. 3 overall pick in the 2017 Draft. In his previous matchup against San Diego this season, Gore threw six innings with six strikeouts and one run allowed on June 25 at Petco Park.
“You’ve got really good hitters over there,” interim manager Miguel Cairo said. “Hitters make adjustments. They made an adjustment, they didn’t swing at bad pitches out of the zone, and it happens.”