NEW YORK — Within the fourth inning of the Washington Nationals’ 7-3 loss to the New York Mets on Friday, Victor Robles did precisely what Supervisor Dave Martinez and his coaches have been asking him to do all season.
Washington
Mets handle the Nationals, and Victor Robles learns another lesson
“It was a really, very dangerous play,” Robles mentioned. “He took the danger, and I took benefit of it.”
Robles made the right baseball determination, even when he did have an opportunity to throw out Vogelbach at dwelling. The 25-year-old outfielder has been in conditions like this earlier than and made the incorrect determination, leaving Martinez shaking his head in frustration. As a substitute, his throw Friday ended the body.
“Very encouraging,” Martinez mentioned in regards to the play. “It was good to see that a few of our conversations are attending to him. If he can proceed to do this and play sensible baseball, you recognize, he’s going to be okay.”
Robles was additionally an element on offense, legging out a triple within the third inning. He scored when Nido dropped a 3rd strike and tried to choose off Robles at third. The throw sailed on the Mets’ catcher, and Robles sprinted dwelling.
Washington (45-87) finally tied the sport with runs within the fifth and sixth innings. Alex Name pinch-hit within the fifth inning and singled with two outs to attain Joey Meneses. Name changed Nelson Cruz, who exited the sport within the fifth inning after beginning because the designated hitter and going 0 for two. Name then obtained picked off at first base to finish the body.
Within the sixth, Ildemaro Vargas hit an RBI double to attain Luis García and degree the sport at 3. That tie didn’t final lengthy when Pete Alonso hit a solo homer off Josiah Grey, who now has allowed a significant league-leading 34 lengthy balls.
The Mets (85-48) went on to attain 4 occasions within the sixth, taking management. The ultimate run got here in when Brandon Nimmo tripled on a ball Robles had an opportunity at. He broke in on the baseball, pondering it was in entrance of him. Then he reversed course because it carried over his head and finally landed simply over his outstretched glove. Martinez mentioned Robles was positioned too shallow on the play and has to know to play deeper.
“When he makes a mistake, it’s type of aggressive,” Martinez mentioned. “I assumed he thought it wasn’t going to be hit that tough over his head. He broke in, after which, by that point, it was too late.”
The Nationals’ rebuild, at the very least since Juan Soto and Josh Bell had been traded for a haul of prospects, has been targeted on constructing round younger gamers akin to García, Grey, CJ Abrams and Keibert Ruiz. However Robles’s place in that image is foggy. A number of years in the past, Robles was seen as a key piece of the longer term, too.
His struggles on the plate haven’t helped his case — he’s batting .222 and coming off his worst month of the season in August, when he hit simply .179. However Martinez has repeatedly mentioned that Robles stays within the crew’s plans.
Friday was a microcosm of Victor Robles’s time with the Nationals — vitality and athleticism that wow, then make you scratch your head, usually in the identical sequence.
What did MacKenzie Gore do earlier than Friday’s sport? The pitcher threw his third bullpen session since he joined the Nationals. If Gore feels superb Saturday, his subsequent step might be throwing a simulated sport in the course of the Nationals’ subsequent collection in St. Louis. After that, the crew will decide subsequent steps, however ideally they need to see Gore pitch earlier than season’s finish.
The 23-year-old left-hander acquired within the Juan Soto/Josh Bell commerce has been working towards a return after being positioned on the injured listing with left elbow irritation July 26. As with Cade Cavalli and Grey, the Nationals are taking Gore’s rehab slowly with the longer term in thoughts. However regardless of that, Martinez has made it some extent that every one of his younger pitchers ought to really feel as in the event that they’re working towards a objective within the close to future as an alternative of getting ready for spring coaching.