Good Morning, Washington Nationals Fans,

Here are the latest headlines and analyses around the Washington Nationals and Major League Baseball for today, May 1.

Welcome to the Morning Briefing! Haden here. Let’s talk about yesterday’s L.

Leading this Morning’s Briefing: Nats drop game one to Texas Rangers

The Nationals took an early lead over the Rangers after CJ Abrams singled, stole a base, and was knocked in by a Luis García Jr. single. The only other hit the Nationals offense recorded was a Trey Lipscomb single in the fifth. When you don’t get many hits and fail to draw any walks, it is pretty hard to win any games.

MacKenzie Gore struck out seven over five innings. He allowed five hits and two earned runs. Davey Martinez once again ran an interesting defensive alignment behind the starter, with Eddie Rosario playing in right field. Over the past three seasons, Rosario has only 120 innings in the corner.

Each bullpen arm gave up a run, with Tanner Rainey giving up three runs, two of which came off a two-run shot. Rainey’s ERA has ballooned to 9.82 ERA. The stuff has not looked great, with a 12.7 percent strikeout rate. When the walk rate is also above 15 percent, and something is clearly wrong. Recovery from TJ surgery is not linear and does not follow some perfect timeline, but it is clear that Rainey is not right. Hopefully, the Nationals can get him straight as the upside with Rainey is sky-high.

Onto getting a winning record in May. The Nationals will have an easier matchup against LHP Andrew Heaney (0-3, 6.26 ERA) while they have RHP Trevor Williams (2-0, 2.70 ERA) on the bump. First pitch is at 8:05 pm ET and televised on MASN2.

Down in the Minors

Featured Stories of the Day

Trout to head to IL with knee injury via MLB.com

Benches clearing brawl in Brewers/Rays game via MLB.com

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