The Morning Briefing: Nationals Split the Weekend Series with the first-place San Francisco Giants

Washington Nationals and Major League Baseball headlines, news, and the latest news for June 14, 2021

by Richard Wachtel

Updated June 14, 2021

The Morning Briefing: Nationals Split the Weekend Series with the first place San Francisco Giants; Next Up Pittsburgh Pirates

Good Monday morning, Washington Nationals fans! Thank you for starting the week with us.

Upcoming Games This Week:

June 14, 2021: Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Washington Nationals; 7:05 pm EST
June 15, 2021: Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Washington Nationals; 7:05 pm EST
June 16, 2021: Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Washington Nationals; 4:05 pm EST
June 18, 2021: New York Mets vs. Washington Nationals; 7:05 pm EST
June 19, 2021: New York Mets vs. Washington Nationals; 1:05 pm EST

Today’s Top Story: Joe Ross Pitches Eight Scoreless Innings and Schwarber Hits Two Home Runs and the Nationals Split the Weekend Series with the first-place San Francisco Giants.

It was an eventful weekend at Nationals Park this weekend when the Giants came to town. From Friday night, Max Scherzer left the game after 12 pitches and a Saturday double-hitter split, and then Kyle Schwarber hit two home runs to lead the Nationals to a series split.

While the Nationals were able to split the series, there were some down moments during the weekend and also some feel-good moments. On Saturday night, Victor Robles made another baserunning mistake which might have cost the team the game in the extra innings of a double header and some good moments.

The Nationals pitching staff only allowed three earned runs this past weekend and the pitchers weren’t guys named Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg, Patrick Corbin or Jon Lester. In fact the pitchers were Joe Ross, Erick Fedde, Jefry Rodriguez and a lot of relievers. This is a pretty impressive stat to think about.

In yesterday’s afternoon game, Kyle Schwarber hit two home runs in the lead off spot and had a four RBI afternoon. Joe Ross impressed off the mound by going eight innings giving up no runs.

Ross is now 3-6 on the season and has an ERA of 4.19 and has a 2.02 ERA over his last five games.

Joe Ross Final Line: 8 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 9K. Ross also had three sacrifice bunts

The Nationals offense showed some life yesterday by scoring five on ten hits. Josh Harrison went 4-4 with three singles and two doubles and there were no base running mistakes!

The Nationals defense was impressive with some nice plays from Victor Robles and Ryan Zimmerman.

The Nationals are still sitting at the bottom of the NL East. Hopefully, the Nationals can make up some ground this week as they face the last place in the NL Central Pittsburg Pirates for a three-game set and then will face the first-place New York Mets at the end of the weekend.

Brandon has the series preview against the Pirates.

Get to Know Washington Nationals Pitching Prospect Cade Cavalli

There has been a lot of buzz around Washington Nationals pitching prospect Cade Cavalli as he makes his way through the Washington Nationals minor league system. Earlier this year, I had a chance to interview him for our Podcast

Take a listen and get to know the Nationals pitching prospect
Apple: https://apple.co/2MqZGwE
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/38ZRo5Z

Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast I am working on a new episode.

Perspective: Don’t Worry Nationals Fans no matter what happens next; Max Scherzer will forever be a Washington National

As the Washington Nationals continue to struggle, there have been trade rumors around Max Scherzer, no matter what happens next, the three-time Cy Young Award Winner will always be a Washington National

Click here to read the full article