MINNEAPOLIS – It is not unusual for All-Star MacKenzie Gore to limit his opponents from scoring. What is uncommon for the southpaw is a high walk rate.
The box score of the Nationals’ 1-0 loss to the Twins on Friday was a mix of results for Gore.
One run and one hit were contrasted with a career-high-tying six walks across 101 pitches in five innings. The strikeout-heavy lefty fanned four batters, matching his second-fewest of the season.
“We’ve got to get in better counts, get ahead better,” said Gore. “If we do that, we’re fine. As bad as it was today, we gave up one hit. But we’re better than that. We can’t walk six guys.”
Gore struck out two of the first three batters to open the game, then issued three walks before recording another strikeout. Gore had entered his 21st start of the season with an 11.2 strikeouts per nine inning rate and 3.0 walks per nine innings rate.
“Honestly, overall, it was a really well-pitched game,” said Twins catcher Ryan Jeffers. “Even with the six walks, it didn’t feel like MacKenzie got super out of control. They were kind of just sprinkled in there. Like, boom, four-pitch walk. Then there were a couple of really well-worked walks. … But I felt like he was in command of that game pretty well. We were able to capitalize on one of the walks. With six walks, you’d hope to capitalize a little more, but he was able to get the outs when he needed to.”
Gore allowed the lone run of the game in the fifth inning as his pitch count neared triple digits. He issued a four-pitch walk to Matt Wallner, threw two wild pitches that advanced Wallner to third base, and walked Brooks Lee on six pitches. Byron Buxton drove in Wallner with a sacrifice fly to left field.
“Gore has excellent stuff,” said Twins manager Rocco Baldelli. “He misses a ton of bats. You see him on the big screen every day when they flash the league leaders during BP. You keep seeing him over and over, for a reason, because he’s got multiple swing-and-miss pitches. He can make lineups look bad.
“That’s not what happened out there today. We actually were very patient. We made him make pitches the entire game. We found our way on base. Did we break it open? We didn’t break it open, but we got him out of the game pretty early and, again, Wallner finds it. At some point you keep working good at-bats, you’re going to find some ways to score some runs.”
Gore was going for his first win post-All-Star break. In his last start on July 20 against the Padres, he allowed eight runs off eight hits in 2 1/3 innings. But Gore has been looking to tighten up his outings since before then.
“I haven’t sequenced well the last month or so,” he said. “I think that really comes down to one, you’ve got to command the ball better, but [two] I think you’ve got to throw better pitches in certain situations, which creates more chase. So there’s a lot of easy takes right now, which kind of becomes a walk. One easy take could be the difference in a walk and a groundout.”
The Nationals, meanwhile, were silenced at the plate by right-hander Zebby Matthews. While he stifled the Nats with seven strikeouts in six innings, Matthews appreciated watching Gore from the opposing side.
“Actually, I know of him from high school,” said Matthews. “He’s a North Carolina guy and he was the third overall pick. He was really good in high school, so I thought that was really cool. He was someone I saw in 2017 get drafted. It was just really cool to have that full-circle moment there, a big name that I kind of followed.”
Gore is only the third Nationals pitcher to walk at least six batters while allowing no more than one hit in a start. He joined Patrick Corbin (1 hit, 7 walks) on Aug. 10, 2023, and Joe Ross (1 hit, 6 walks) on Sept. 1, 2015 .
“At the end of the day, it’s about runs,” Gore said. “But we’ve got to look at how we’re getting there. We’re better than that. I feel good. I shouldn’t be walking that many people. It’s not like I feel off or anything. I’m just not ending at-bats, and they’re coming in at-bats. Clean that up, get ready for the next one.”